Power Rangers: Science Lanes
by Jetman21
Summary: Years ago, when a would-be visionary decided to take on the world he didn't the think this team would stand in his way. Empowered by their ideas, data science, and social software, and backed by a less than forthright government agency, saving the world is right in their ballpark.
1. Hey Nonny Nonny

**Hey Nonny Nonny**

Chris Scotsdale stared down at his empty glass. Here looked around at the crowd gathered around him. They were all proud in their accomplishments. They were all proud in the lives they'd made for themselves.

"What happened to you, man?" Aaron Jones asked. "I though you were going to be the best of us."

Chris couldn't help but agree with him. He stared down the bottom of his glass.

Later that night, once everyone else had gone, he knew he need to get to work. Aaron got out of his chair. The two of them made it out of the restaurant and to Chris' lab.

"This is what I've been working on since high school," he said. He projected a hologram of his ideal society. "I've always known what it'll take the make the world a better place. If I enforced those ideals onto others, it would help in the long run."

"This sounds dangerous," Aaron said.

"You've given me the push I needed," Chris said. "Eternal splendor will be mine. I'm going to save the world from itself."

...

Months later

Kari Voss looked back up, snapping back from her mind. "What?"

"Do you have a middle name?" Rosetta 'Rosette' Manders asked, as she pressed her fork against the lunch room table.

"No," Kari said, distracted by the atmosphere of the lunch room.

"Me neither," Rosette said.

Zara glanced at her watch. There was still time until class started, fifteen minutes to be exact. She still wanted to get to the classroom early.

"My watch says 12:45," Zara said. "What does yours say?"

"12:46," Kari said,

"I knew mine was slow," Zara said.

"No, it says 12:46 on yours too now, not that time has passed," Kari said. "Are you stressed?"

"I will not be late again," Zara said, picking up her books.

"Have you seen my violin?" Zach asked as he made his way to their table.

"No," Kari said.

"No," Rosette said.

"I'll check the locker room," Zach said, getting up and going to check.

Meanwhile, the two agents glanced at the people through their cameras. They then zeroed in on them.

"These four seem acceptable enough," the first one said.

The two of them looked at each other and nodded.

"Another thing," the second one said, as she pulled out a file. "We need to get someone to mentor them. I have a candidate; Jason."

"The Jason?"

"Jason Reed," she clarified.

"Acceptable, I'll call him up," the first agent said.

...

Reed looked down to the team, sitting there, on the practice mats.

"This is where you'll train, and where we'll go if we need to touch base," Reed said. "Kari, you'll be Silver Ranger. Zach, you'll be the Red Ranger. Rosette, you'll be Brown. Zara, you'll be Gold."

Morphers appeared on their wrists in flashes of light.

"Not that this isn't amazing..but if you don't mind me asking, why us?" Zara asked.

"I wasn't involved in the selection process," Reed said.

...

Reed went to go answer the phone.

"There's one more thing," the agent, now calling him from outside, told him. "You won't be working alone. Atwell will be there in a moment."

"Marnie Atwell?" Reed asked. "Okay then. Thank you for the heads up."

...

Reed walked back into the room holding a basketball. "Okay, this is an exercise that I used to do quite a bit," he said.

"Every time you catch it, say something about yourself," he added.

Reed threw the ball to Zach, who caught it. He stood up. "Okay," he said. Reed stepped away. Rosette, Zara and Kari got up.

Zach threw the ball to Kari. "What kind of things do we have to say about ourselves?" Kari asked.

"Anything personal that'll help us get to know you better," Zach said.

"My name is Kari, and I don't like this game."

Kari threw the ball to Zara.

"Being ranger makes me nervous and people could get hurt," she said.

Zara threw the ball to Rosette. "I don't know what to say, I'm a pretty open person. I've always felt bad about not being able to play a musical instrument."

Rosette threw the ball to Zach. "I've also never been able to play a musical instrument," he said.

"You have to say something original," Reed said.

"I'm a derivative person," Zach said. "Oh, that can be my thing. I'm a derivative person."

Zach threw the ball to Zara, who didn't catch it, and then pick it up. "I'm not good at sports."

Zara threw the ball back to Zach. "I am good at sports," he said.

...

Red lights protruded from the walls. One by one, they all started going off. Soon, the entire room was abuzz, the alarms only growing louder.

"Someone's attacking the city," Reed said. "Take your morphers, and say; 'Charging to Protect a Future!'"

"Charging to Protect a Future!" they all shouted, holding their arms out.

The four of them got enveloped in a power and found themselves in color coded suits.

"The enemies you'll be fighting call themselves Gel-Bats," Reed said. "They are dangerous. Given time, they will eat through your suits and absorb your power."

The four of them ran out, into the street where the Gel-Bats were attacking.

They all found they had blasters in their holsters. They fired at the Gel-Bats, beginning the cut through their formation.

Zara saw a smaller squad of Gel-Bats terrorizing a small family. She backflipped over and fired at them.

The four rangers began to spread out to make sure they were taking about all the Gel-Bats.

Zach's weapon got shot out of his hand by Gel-Bat. One Gel-Bat picked it up, and fired at Rosette. Rosette pulled out her own gun, and the two fired at each other at the same time. Rosette demorphed, her weapon knocked down. She picked it up. The Gel-Bat destroyed, Zach's weapon flew into the air. He picked it up, and demorphed.

A Gel-Bat charged at Kari, scratching her suit. She turned around a fired, knocking it down and destroying it. She looked around and saw that was the last of them.

Kari and Zara demorphed.


	2. Hey Nonny Nonny (2)

**Hey Nonny Nonny **

Chris sat by the lake, watching the water roll. He projected his hologram against it to see how his Gel-Bats were doing. He sighed.

Then, there they were in a flash of light, Steljax and Lady Vampir.

"Come to mock me?" he asked.

"We want to help you," Lady said, sitting down next to him, and wrapping her hands around him.

"You want to reshape the world," Steljax said, sitting down next to him. "We know how."

...

Marnie Elizabeth Atwell didn't believe in making large entrances. Thus, she had already set up in the back of Reed's shop, without informing him.

"Marnie?" Reed asked, as he made his way up from the basement. "How long has it been?"

"Too long," Marnie said, not taking a second to look up to him. "I am flooded with paperwork at the moment. Oh, also, you need to get the rangers to do their paperwork."

"Oh, right, the rangers, I should introduce you," Reed said.

"I'm sure they're nice kids, but I'm a bit busy at the moment," Marnie sat. "Besides, I wasn't hired to look over that aspect. We both have our respective jobs. I think that's where our priorities should be."

"Fair enough," Reed said.

...

The next day, Rosette was standing at her locker. She saw Zara and Kari at the other side of the hall, and walked to them.

"Hey," Rosette said to Kari, just as Zara was walking away. "What were you two talking about?"

"We were just rescheduling our tutoring session," Kari said.

"Tutoring?" Rosette asked.

"She needs help in math, I'm top of our class," Kari said. "I was going to help her yesterday, but, well, you know."

"Yeah, I guess that's going to happen a lot," Rosette sighed.

"Actually, Zara and I were thinking about quitting," Kari said.

"I don't know what to say," Rosette said.

"We haven't made a decision yet, though," Kari sighed. "Do you think you're going to keep going?"

'I think so," Rosette sighed, stopping for a second. "I hadn't thought about it, I wouldn't have thought we could quit."

"I think I need a second to think about it before I can talk about it," Kari sighed.

"So, you do tutoring, right?" Rosette asked. "Could you help me with that?"

"What subject do you need help in?" Kari asked.

"All ," Rosette sighed, before starting to chuckle. "What're you going to do, huh."

She got a text. "Hey, do you want to come to a party with me?"

"Huh," Kari said. "I'm not a real party person."

"I mean, you said you needed to get your mind off this whole ranger thing right?" Rosette asked.

"I'll think about it," Kari said.

...

Zach looked up at the basketball hoop, struggling for a second. He sent the ball through, then picked it up and looked up again.

Zara walked up to him.

"I thought I might find you here," she said.

"I just need a moment, to process my thoughts," Zach said. "I mean, we've got this power, this responsiblility, it's incredible."

"I'm not sure about it," Zara said. "Kari isn't either."

"You want to get replaced?" Zach asked, as he threw the ball in the hoop.

"Maybe," Zara said as he caught it, then tried to bounce it. "I mean, we got chosen out of nowhere. It doesn't matter who does it, right. I mean, say some words, hold a gun."

"Well, it's going to get harder, right?" Zach asked.

Zara tried to get the ball in the hoop. It brushed the net.

"Maybe when it does the job'll need someone who can do it better than me," Zara said. "Someone who can at least make a basket."

"If you feel that way, I guess, you should do what you want to do," Zach said. "I mean, I guess, I don't know you that well."

"I mean, we have lived next door to each other our entire lives," Zara said. "Maybe we should get to know each other better. Regardless of whether we stay together…on the team."

"I'd like that," Zach said, trying to make a basket and getting the rim.

...

Kari looked up, through the telescope.

She thought about how small the world in comparison to everything out there. She thought about how small she in comparison to the world. She thought about how she couldn't even protect herself.

"Hey," Zara said, as she made her way up the stairs to Kari. "Your aunt let me in."

"It's nice to see you," Kari said.

"Have you thought any more about it?" Zara asked.

"I'm not a fighter," Kari said. "I don't think I can save the world. I don't even think I can save myself."

"Save yourself? From what?" Zara asked.

"There was an incident back when I lived in California," Kari said. "I don't want to talk about it."

"For what it's worth, I think we did a good job," Zara said, as she sat down next to Kari.

"I mean yeah, nothing bad happened this time," Kari said. "I'm just not sure if this is what I'm supposed to do."

"I've thought a lot about it, like, destruction itself," Zara said. "And like, are monsters alive?"

"I don't think so," Kari sighed. "That's something to keep me up at night."

"I think I'm going to go," Zara said. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"You seem nice, Zara," Kari said."If I was going to fight evil with anybody, I'd want it to be you."


	3. The Cuckoo Mocks Married Men (1)

**The Cuckoo Mocks Married Men**

Zach looked at the basketball for a second, before throwing it back to Rosette, who was standing at the other side of the basement.

"Have you talked to Zara and Kari?" Rosette asked, before throwing the ball back to him.

"Not since yesterday," Zach said, before throwing the ball back to her. "I'll probably talk to Zara when I get back home," he added.

"Zara, Kari and I were going to a party later tonight, if you want to come," Rosetta said, throwing the ball back to him.

"I'll think about it," Zach said, catching the ball, his arm tensing for a second, dropping it.

"Are you okay?" Rosette asked, walking over to him and inspecting it, holding his arm.

"Should be fine," Zach sighed.

The two of them looked up, to see Reed and Marnie walking down the stairs.

Zach and Rosette walked up to them, Rosette letting go of Zach's hand and him putting it over Reed's shoulder.

"This is Dr. Atwell," Reed said. "Tech support."

"That will be all," Marnie said.

Reed removed Zach's hand from his shoulder and he, along with Marnie, went back upstairs.

"Bye guys!" Rosette said, somewhat enthused.

As Marnie and Reed walked up the stairs, Kari came down.

"I wanted to talk to you guys about something. I still want to help people, even if I'm not fighting," Kari said.

"That's cool of you," Zach said.

"I should start a charity," Kari said.

"For what?" Rosette asked.

She pulled out of her pockets three dice and rolled them in her hand. "For helping raise money to buy the homeless houses."

"I'm happy for you, I guess," Rosette said. "If this is what you want to do."

"I just don't think 'The Fight,' is for me," Kari sighed.

Reed walked back down the stairs. "Zach, Rosette, you have an assignment."

—

Zach and Rosette made their way to the playhouse and Zach entered one of the rooms. He looked up at the scene unfolding atop him. Two men, actors, in a scene, grappling with their doubts, then with each other, every sound or move they made echoing in the vast arena.

And then, as the play ending and the actors let themselves out from the roles, he jumped up onto the stage. There was something there.

Something else.

"It's gone," he sighed, taking a second to reflect, laying upon the vacant stage in the now vacant room.

He made his way out, seeing Rosette behind the counter.

"Anything on your end?" Zach asked.

"No," she sighed.

Suddenly, someone else came up behind them. Zara.

"What are you doing here?" Zach asked.

"I got a job here, what are you guys doing here?"

"We're investigating," Rosette said. "Well I've been, Zach's spent most of the time trying to flirt with some of the actors."

"Well, I've always admired the acting profession and their resilience and dedication."

"This is a coincidence, right?" Rosette asked.

"I'm not so sure," Zara said. "I only got this job because someone applied for me then walked up to on the street wearing sunglasses and trench coat and told me to take it."

"Maybe Reed's trying to get you back in 'the game,' as it were," Zach said.

"Okay, so tell me, what are we investigating?" Zara asked.

"Are you in?" Zach asked.

"I don't know yet, give me the details," Zara said.

"Someone, a man, summoned demons in this area, we've deduced he worked at this theatre," Zach said. "They seem to have stopped, but that might be because of class. The class demons being summoned escalated from Class 1 to Class 3 steadily. To get to Class 4, you need a rare chalice, which we're guessing he doesn't have."

"We're not sure yet, though," Rosette said.


	4. The Cuckoo Mocks Married Men (2)

**The Cuckoo Mocks Married Men**

Later, on his way out, Zach bumped into Trishia, one of his classmates.

"Hey Trish," he said.

"Hi, Zach, what are you doing here?" Trishia asked.

"I'm putting on a play here, in a week, or some such thing," Zach said, as his voice started trailing off.

"I was going to go a movie, do you wanna come with?" she asked.

"Sure," Zack said.

—

Rosette, Zara, and Kari gathered in Zara's living room."I called our school, trying to make TVF an official school club, but they said no. And now I have to join an 'actual club,' " Kari said.

"What did you choose?" Rosette asked.

"Video Game Club," Kari said. "I mean, I like video games. Anyways, we need to set this Foundation up. This will be our headquarters."

"It will?" Zara asked.

"Is that okay with you?" Kari asked.

"Sure," Zara said.

—

Trishia and Zach made their way to a small cafe just outside of town.

"My parents want me to get married," she told Zach. "And they keep trying to set me up."

"I don't understand, you aren't obligated, are you?" Zach asked. "And, and besides, we're still in high school."

"It's complicated," Trishia said. "They're really controlling, and they're afraid if I don't get married I'll be too rebellious or whatever."

"So they want us to break up?" Zach asked.

"I told them I wanted to date you, and they said yes," Trishia said."As long as we can still get married."

—

Chris paced up and down his office.

Aaron walked up the office. "I wanted to check on you, you seem really involved with your work recently."

"I have, but not this work. I've been trying to revolutionize the world, as you know."

"I cant talk to you about it," Anthony said. "I have to go, my son and I are going on a trip."

Chris stopped for a second. "You have a son?"

Aaron sighed. "Yeah, his name is Marcus, after, after your brother."

"Fitting," Chris sighed. "I like it a lot."


	5. The Cuckoo Mocks Married Men (3)

**The Cuckoo Mocks Married Men**

Zach, Kari, Zara and Rosette gathered back in Zara's living room.

"How's it going?" Rosette asked. She looked up to see Kari squeezing an ice cube.

"I'm trying to channel my anger in a less destructive way," Kari said. "This whole club thing is bringing back stressful memories."

"You had your first club meeting today, right?" Zara asked.

"The two other guys in the club don't even care about video games, or me, or each other," Kari said. "They just sit there, in silence."

"We'll join the club with you," Rosette said. "Drum up a more positive environment."

"Yeah, Zara, you're really good at getting people to do things with you," Zara said. "Almost enough to make me rejoin the team. Maybe."

"Wanna do Game Club, though?" Rosette asked.

"Sure, Game Club's cool, the fate of the world doesn't hang in the balance," Zara sighed.

"You and Zara can," Zach said. "I'm busy planning my wedding with Trishia. I told you guys about that, right?"

"You told me," Kari said.

"You told me," Rosette said.

"What's going on?" Zara asked. "Why am I always the last to know things."

"We're getting forced by her parents. And, yesterday, she decided that if this had to happen, it needed to he soon," Zach said.

"Is she onboard?" Zara asked.

"She doesn't want it to happen, but both of us have agreed not to fighting back," Zach said. "My Moms are refusing to pay, though."

"I wouldn't pay if I was in their situation," Zara said.

"I am so done with being a teenager," Zach sighed.

"Marriage isn't usually a teenage issue," Kari said.

"I just want to be thirty, and flirty, and thriving," Zach said.

"Yeah, that's definitely the funniest and most timely reference you could make," Zara said.

Zach drank coffee from a half-full coffee mug he found on the table. "This coffee is horrible, who made this?" Zach asked.

"You did, the last time you were here, a week ago," Zara said.

"My life is a mess," Zach said.

"Agreed," Zara said.

"I can't me married, I—I have so much stuff I want to do first," Zach sighed.

"How long have you and Trishia been dating?" Rosette asked.

"Since the day before yesterday," Zach sighed.

"Oh, well that's not so bad then," Zara joked. Zach chuckled.

Zach got a text. "Trishia keeps calling me. Got to go. Make sure to come to my wedding tomorrow."

"I'm glad me and my boyfriend aren't like that," Zara said.

"Boyfriend?" Rosette asked.

"Never mind," Zara sighed. "Forget I said anything. Today'a about Zach. Tommorow too."

"I guess," Kari said.

"Yeah, I mean, you guys are going to make friends, Kari you're still the new kid, everyone's going to be all over you, Rosette, everyone already loves you, and I'm just going to be stuck with him, working out his problems."

"Or his wife can work out his problems," Kari said.

"Yeah," Zara sighed. "Be funny to see how that one ends."

—

Zach ran up to Trishia on the street.

"I have to tell you something," he said.

"Is it about your investigation?" Trishia asked.

"How did you know about that?" Zach asked.

"Zara told me everything, she thought it would help," Trishia said.

"She should have ran that by me," Zach said.

"We're getting married, we should run everything by each other," Trishia said. "Zara and I came up with an idea. Invite the entire cast to the wedding. Get the demon summoning one to reveal their self."

"How?" Zach asked.

"They need another part thing, right?" Trishia asked. "What if we sell one on a website and make sure everyone in the cast sees it. The demon summoning one will make an account. We'll message them on that account. We'll tell them to leave the wedding."

"Ok, cool," Zach said.

"Was that what you wanted to talk to me about?" Trishia asked.

"Well i was going to fight your parents in them making me marry you," Zach said."But this chance is too good to pass up"

The next day, Zach, Zara, Kari and Rosette stood at the altar, at the church Trishia's parents insisted on having the wedding at.

"I think Trish is mad at me," Zach said.

"Because you said there was no way in hell you marrying her, but then changed your mind when it was useful to you?" Zara asked.

"I didn't say that, exactly," Zach said. "I'm just really stressed about this whole thing."

"Just go up there," Kari said. "I'll text mystery person when it's time."

Zach walked up the altar. The ceremony began, and Trishia walked down the aisle.

Kari texted the account wishing to purchase the chalice, and everyone else saw someone getting up to leave the church. Zach jumped up and chased after them, but before they could catch up to them, someone teleported in front of him, Steljax, machine swordsman.

Zach started fighting him, then ran away. He and the other three hid at the back of the church, transformed, and then went back out to attack Steljax, who retreated.

—

Zara, Kari, and Rosette met back up at Zara's house.

Zach walked in and sat down next to them.

"Trishia ran away from home, and she says she's moving to Wisconsin," Zach said.

"Eww," Zara said.

"I hope she's okay," Zach sighed. "What were you guys talking about?"

"I think today's Cub went well," Rosette said.

"Yeah," Zara said.

"You went to video game club?" Kari asked.

"Yeah," Rosette said. "We were wondering why you weren't there."

"I was trying to get the Foundation accepted as a club," Kari said. "I thought since they let a Video Game Club without video games fly under the radar—"

"Not anymore," Rosette said. "They got busted, so they changed it from a Video Game Club to a Food Hunger Advocacy Club."

"It was a shame because we wanted to video games," Zara said.

"But it was fun to see," Rosette said.

"Do they help the hungry get food?" Zach asked.

"No," Rosette said. "The teacher was like, you're not accomplishing anything. And they were like, most foundations don't accomplish anything if they try. And the teacher was like, keep up the good work."

"They have a point, you know," Zara said.

"Hey!" Rosette said. "I think that organizations like that can succeed if they try."

"Like the Voss Foundation will," Kari said.

"Let's toast," Zach said.

"Sure," Zara said. "I'll go get something to toast to, like a liquid drink of some kind."

—

The four of them gathered back at the theatre, to reflect.

"Are you two back on the team?" Zach asked Zara and Kari.

"I don't know yet," Zara said, "Kari?"

"There are a lot of reasons I'm hesitant about being a ranger, but a big one is fighting. Back when I lived in Cali, I got into a fight with a girl. She tried to hurt me, I wanted to hurt her back, we both succeeded," Kari sighed.

"Oh," Zara said.

"My parents thought I needed to get my head straightened, and they sent me to live here," Kari continued. "But now, I see I can fight for good, I guess. I'm going to do it, at least for now."

"Then I'll do it too," Zara said. "I don't really have anything tragic in my life like that, but I do want to help people, and if the rest of you are, I'll stand by you. I can see you're all good people."

"So are we going to catch this guy?" Kari asked. "Do we know how?"

"I was thinking maybe we could pulls some strings, put on a play, and have all the real actors watch it," Zach said. "And then we direct it at the person summoning the demons."

"Let's do it," Zach said.

—

And then, four days later, the four of them went off, to begin their production. Zach and Zara were performing. Rosette and Kari stood in the back of the room, spying on their audience.

Zach and Zara were beginning their second scene, when Zach discarded the roller skates.

"There have been grave injustices tonight!" Zach said. "Committed by you, the audience!"

The small crowd stood there, not moving, believing it was part of the act.

Zach pulled up the chalice.

"Some one in the crowd wants this," Zach said. "They go by the name evilchalicelover online!"

Rosette and Kari spotted someone reacting—it was Chris.

They ran up to him.

Chris ran up to the stage and grabbed the chalice.

"Gel-Bats!" Chris said, summoning them to attack the four and the rest of the audience. Then he escaped.

"He was behind the thefts, and the attacks as well!" Zach said.

"He's gone," Rosette noted.

The four of them got everyone else out, then transformed and defeated the Gel-Bats.

Chris ran off, to summon the demon.

"What is your name, demon?' he asked, as one appeared in front of him, dressed in red and black robes, and with a metallic, muscular body.

"Veramax," the figure said. "But I am no demon."

He lifted up Chris and began to strangle him.

...

Authors Note:

Squeezing an ice cube is something a lot of people do to stop the urge to self harm, at least on a small scale, because it is a less destructive way of working through self destructive feelings.


	6. Less Than Archangel Ruined

Hey guys! I got quite a few responses last time I posted, on reviews, PMs and emails, and I appreciate all of them, thank you.

People have expressed interest in seeing their characters represented in art. If you want to see artwork of your character, I was thinking about starting a tumblr account where I would post drawings of characters and scenes.

Also, I've been playing with the idea of adding transmedia elements to the series. This would basically consist of me making social media accounts for the characters, to help get to know them better. This wold not be necessary to your understanding of the series, just expand characterization where it already exists.

Now let's get back to the show!

* * *

**Less Than Archangel Ruined (1)**

Chris woke up, and looked around to see what remained from his fight with Veramax earlier. The pool of his blood glowed on the floor, as he stood up, to see Veramax sitting there, in front of him.

"So…you're Ant?" Chris asked. "Aren't you?"

"After you abandoned me, I was tortured and turned into this monster," Veramax said.

"I didn't abandon you, or Mom, or Dad," Chris said. "Marcus saved me, we tried to save the rest of you, and we failed."

"You brought me back on an accident, on a whim, trying to bring a demon so you can—"

"Save the world," Chris said, "from itself."

"That was what we planned to do together," Veramax said.

"When we couldn't save you we thought you guys might be dead," Chris said.

"Mom and Dad still might be," Veramax sighed.

* * *

Zara made her way up the stairs to Zach's attic, winded, as she walked up to him.

"How are you tired?" Zach asked. "That was two flights of stairs."

"I had to walk from my house to yours," Zara said in her defense.

"They're five feet away from each other," Zach said.

"How are you doing?" Zara asked. "You're just hanging here?"

"Yeah," Zach said. "Now that I'm a divorcee, I can have time to pursue my interests, which mostly includes just sitting here."

"Wait, I thought the wedding was cancelled?" Zara said.

"Technically we were already married," Zach said. "So we had to get unmarried."

"Well at least that's over," Zara said.

"Yeah," Zach said.

"Can I sit here with you?" Zara asked.

"Sure," Zach said.

"It's just that I started feeling sad again, and I want be close to someone and nobody was home, and you were the closest person that I knew," Zara said.

"It's okay," Zach said.

"I wanted to call Marcus but he doesn't like to listen to me," Zara sighed. "I mean, he can be sweet, when we're doing what he wants to do, but he doesn't want to listen to me."

"Why not?" Zach asked.

"Well I guess he has more important things to think about," Zara sighed.

"Well I'm here, I guess," Zach said. "Kari and Rosette are too."

"Can I call them over here?" Zara asked.

"Don't see why not," Zach sighed.

About an hour later, Zach, Zara, Kari and Rosette had gathered in Zach's attic.

"Why are we here?" Kari asked.

"Togetherness, right?" Rosette asked. "Us..being together."

"I feel weird," Kari said. "I think it's cause I got a lot of homework, then add to that the whole ranger stress thing, I've been really out of it all day. And I don't really want to go to sleep, but it's also like I'm not really awake."

"Maybe you should get coffee," Rosette said.

"Co…ffee," Kari said. "Coffee. I haven't had coffee in years. I drank a lot of coffee, and it made me aggressive, and it stunted my growth and people made fun of me for being short, which made me angry which also made me aggressive."

"I think there might be coffee in the cupboard, you can go check," Zach said.

Kari dipped down the stairs, and came back with a freshly brewed mug of coffee.

"I'm sure that I can handle it now," Kari said.

"Marcus got me to stop drinking coffee," Zara said. "It's actually a kind of funny story, I mean, well, when I think about it, do we were walking in the park, and there was a Starbucks, or some such place, and I thought - -" she was saying starting to trail off in fear nobody was listening.

"Keep going," Rosette said, looking up at her. "I'm listening."

Zara continued telling her story.

* * *

Zach surveyed Reed's office for a moment, taking note of the elements inside it, the haphazardly sorted files, the broken down bobble heads on the worn down desks, the pictures hung around the walls of old friends, all accompanied by signs displaying how long they'd lived.

Zara had persuaded Kari and Rosette to come in early for practice, and since Reed was already there when they arrived, they decided to go out and go to the mall or some such place in the hour before the lesson started. As he waited for them to get back, Zach went off the kitchen in the side corner of Reed's office space and made a peanut butter sandwich.

He turned around to see Marnie walking in and beginning to set up.

"Hi there," she said, somewhat nervous. "James, is it? Kevin? Brian."

"Zach," he said. "With an H."

"You're crimson, correct?" Marnie asked.

"Red, actually," Zach said.

"I've seen your suit," Marnie said. "To call it red would be an insult to red."

"Well, we need a red, right?" Zach asked.

"Well, by that logic, you'd also need a blue," Marnie said. "And I would have thought a yellow, although that now seems not to be true."

Zach walked into the basement and sat down on the mat and waited for the others to arrive.

"I'm not a crimson ranger," he sighed. "I just play one in real life."

* * *

Zach looked up to see Reed as he walked in with the rest of the team. Evidently, while the four of them were a way they took Reed to get a haircut. Gone was the medium-length, organized style that had once populated his head. Instead, there was a shorter, spikier mess. But because of that one change, Zach found himself looking at Reed's face more closely.

He was still composed and commanding, Zack thought, and the way he held himself remained the same, but there was an added element of mystique, of intensity. And he looked more attractive, Zach decided, very much so. Staring at him for what was supposed to be another second, he got lost in his eyes for what seemed like at least an hour.

"Let's begin training for today," Reed said. Zach nodded as he got off the floor and stood with his teammates.

After a few minutes of exercises, Reed called an end for the day, saying they were taking an excursion.

"There's a reason we're here today," Reed said as he led the team and Marnie through to the public swimming pool.

"Why?" Kari asked.

"I'll start with you," Reed said. "Crouch down, and place your hand in the water." Kari did that.

"What now?" she asked.

"Think about it," Reed said. "Think about the water, what you might want to do about it."

"Like make it colder?" Kari asked. As she started to say that, a change began to take hold, the water slowly turning to ice for a moment.

Reed got a phone call, and turned away to answer it. "Sorry, I have to take it, it's a, let's say an old friend."

"Hey, Jaser! The Jasonater!" the five onlookers heard the caller say to Reed over the phone. "Bro!"

"Maybe you should take it off speaker," Marnie said.

"It's not on speaker, he's just a really loud," Reed said. "Hey, maybe you should decrease the tempo," he said over the phone.

"Come on, what are you doing that could be important. Do you have a job? You don't have a job, you're Jason Reed. Other people have jobs. The other Jason has a job."

"I actually do have a job I need to get back to," Reed said.

"Hey, is Marnie there with you. We had a nickname for her. Did you ever hear about what we did, like, oh go, five years ago! In the banana hammock, in Florida. It was the most - - "

"I'll call you back later," Reed said, hanging up, and throwing his phone into the now slightly colder water.

"Sorry," Reed said. "He's just an old friend."

"So…" Kari said. "I can make water colder?"

"Right, yes," Reed said. "That's your power."

"Do I have powers?" Zach asked.

"Yes, you can turn invisible," Reed said. "Zara, you can too."

The two of them thought about it for a second, looking each other in the eye, as they concentrated and both ended up invisible.

* * *

As soon as their session ended for the day, Zara made her way out, met by Marcus at his car. The two of them drove back to her house, and sat down on her bed.

"You look so hot right now," Marcus said. "For once."

Zara sighed. "What do you want to do today?"

"What do you think we should do," he said as he got up and started surveying her room.

"Maybe we could go bowling, or feed the ducks—"

"What is this?" Marcus asked, as he looked through her closet at her clothing. "A lot of gold here now,"

"I like gold, it's a good color on me," Zara said.

"Says who?" Marcus asked.

"Me," Zara said.

"Then you're wrong," Marcus said.

"Well do I need your opinion?" Zara asked.

"For goodness sake," Marcus said. "I feel like you don't take my opinion on anything. You haven't even listened to me about what I want to do. Together."

"Well, what do you want to do?" Zara said.

"Maybe we could go to that new sandwich place," Marcus said.

"Do you want me to pay again?" Zara asked, with a sigh.

"See, this is the Zara I like," Marcus sighed. "Come on, let's go."

Zara looked down at her phone, seeing she got an alert saying a monster was attacking.

"Sorry," Zara said. "I've got to go, but I'll be right back." Zara walked out of the room and out of the house, down the the square where the attack was going down, as the other three arrive promptly, and the four of them morphed.

It was a group of Gel-Bats, accompanied by Lady V.

They cut through them quickly, Kari trying out her water control power on a Gel-Bat, trying to freeze the fluid inside of it.

Lady V vanished before the rangers could get to her, and the four of them cut through the remaining Gel-Bats fairly quickly.

* * *

Zara made her way back after the battle, to see Marcus, standing on her bed, holding a pair of scissors.

"What's going on?" Zara asked. She looked down around the room, to see her clothes cut up and scattered across the room.

"You're cutting my clothes?" Zara asked.

"Don't worry," Marcus said, as he put the scissors down and walked up to her, patting her on the shoulder. "Just the ones I don't like."

"Do you still want to get sandwiches?" she asked.

"I'm not hungry," Marcus said. "We should have gone earlier."

"Sorry," she sighed. "I was busy."

"Well I was busy too," Marcus responded, exasperated. "Busy being hungry!" He walked out, leaving Zara alone in her room. She started picking up her ripped gold colored clothes from the floor.

Zara called Rosette early the next morning, and she came over to her house.

"Are you okay?" Rosette asked, as the two of them went up to her room.

"Yeah," Zara said, as she sat down on her bed. "I started stitching these shirts back together."

"I don't get why you don't hate this guy," Rosette sighed.

"He has his moments," Zara said. "And he just wants the best for me."

"That's why he ripped up your stuff?" Rosette said, as she picked up one of the ripped shirts and started sewing it.

"Well, who else is going to date me?" Zara asked.

Rosette thought for a moment, not sure who would be interested. Obviously someone had to be, Zara had a lot of appeal in her eyes. Her hair, for example, Rosette thought. Maybe she could compliment one of her features, like her hair. Or her sense of humor. Or facial structure. Her resilience. Her good judgement. Rosette must have been staring at Zara for at least a minute.

"I'm sure you'll find someone," Rosette said, her glance not fading.

Zara looked up at Rosette. She wasn't sure what Rosette was thinking, but she hoped it was good.

"You're lovely," Rosette said.

"Thank you," Zara said. "Marcus thinks so too. I mean, I spent a week getting him to notice me, but once he did, it was all mutual adoration, and we've been dating for the past two months, and I mean, we fight, but all good couples argue."

"Zach thinks you're lovely, Kari thinks you're lovely, a bunch of people at school do too, and if you want I could set you up with someone," Rosette said.

Zara looked into the window, then back at Rosette. "I'll think about it," she said, staring blankly.


	7. Some Fault in Our Plans

**Some Fault in Our Plans**

"Hey Zara," Mark said, walking into the living room where Zara was reading a book.

"Hey Marcus," Zara said, putting her book down and looking up at him, while adjusting her glasses.

"I, uh, I wanted to say sorry," Mark said. "I guess I overstepped my bounds there."

"Uh, yeah," Zara said.

"Can you forgive me?" he asked, pressing his hands together.

"I guess," Zara said. "I mean, we're a team, right. The two of us."

"Yeah," Mark said.

"What are you doing?" Mark asked.

* * *

The Next Day

Reed looked down the team finishing up training in the basement, before making his way to his office, where Marnie was working on mixing materials together.

"What's this?" Reed asked.

"I'm experimenting with the fluid crystals," Marnie said. "For the weapons."

"Do you know why Zach isn't training with the others?" Reed asked.

"I'm having him test some of the new technology," Marnie said.

"Can you get the health files for the rangers?" Reed asked.

"I think I put the files on your desk," Marnie said.

Reed walked over to his desk to see the files. "I'll hand these over to them at my meeting to tomorrow," he said. "I'll need you to look after the practice tomorrow, while I'm out."

"That's a horrible idea," Marnie said. "Just give them a day off."

"Fine," Reed said.

The team was making their way out of the shop, Zach checking his watch to see how much time was left before school.

"One more thing," Reed said, following them out. "I have to meet up with some higher ups tomorrow, and that means I'll have to cancel our practice. Is that okay with you?"

"Sure," Kari said.

"Okay then," Reed said. "See you on Sunday." He walked back inside.

"So we have Saturday off?" Zach asked. "That means like, we have a full day to do stuff."

"Like what?" Rosette asked.

"I don't know," Zach said.

"We'll probably have homework," Zara said.

"We can do it on Sunday," Zach said as they kept walking.

"There might be a monster attack," Kari said.

"We can save their lives on Sunday," Zach said jovially. "Okay, maybe not, but as long as that doesn't happen we're good, right?"

"I guess," Zara said.

"Like I thought I'd have free time when the season ended, and then I got roped up in violin lessons I don't understand, and then this, and I do love this, but still," Zach said. "I say we don't waste it."

They arrived at the bus stop, sitting down on a bench.

"What do you want to do?" Zara asked.

"We could go to a haunted house?" Rosette suggested. "Or to the beach. I don't know, I'll think of something."

"Fine, maybe," Kari said.

"I think I might have a date with Marcus," Zara said.

"Bring him along if you want," Zach said enthusiastically.

"Fine," Zara said.

"Maybe we could, like, drive out somewhere tonight," Zach said.

"Well I have a thing for TVF tonight" Kari said, "but tomorrow, sure."

* * *

Later that Day…

"Kari set up something for TVF, so we're going to bring all this food to the school auditorium," Zara said, gesturing the the table of 52 sandwiches. "We're going to be giving them out to the hungry."

"Is this it?" Mark asked.

"Well, that and I baked these muffins that taste like donuts," Zara said.

"Can I have one?" Mark asked.

"They're for charity," Zara said. "For the hungry."

"I'm hungry," Mark said.

"You're always hungry," Zara sighed.

"Well it looks like you do have enough material to make another batch of muffins," Mark said. "And of sandwiches."

"Okay then," Zara said.

* * *

Saturday 5:53 AM

Zach reached for his cell phone on the other side of his room, finding Kari's number in his contact list, and calling her.

"What, wait, what time is it?" Kari asked.

"It's, like, 5:50 or something," Zach said.

"Why are you awake, what are you?" Kari asked.

"If we want to get to the beach before noon, we're going to want to start driving,like, now," Zach said. "I'm going to call Zara and Rosette."

"Easy tiger," Kari said. "It's only, like, 5, right? God, I've only had three hours sleep."

Before their conversation could continue, they got an alert, a monster attack, by the pier.

* * *

The team ran down the street, making their way up to a humanoid, one eyed monster, who didn't seem to be attacking any people, instead drinking into the ground and pouring fluid into the holes through monstrous fourth and fifth hands.

Zara shot the monster.

"What are you planning?" she asked over the sounds of drilling.

The monster did respond.

The four of them all pulled out their blasters and pointed them at the monster.

"I am creating art," the monster said in a soft gravely voice. "Once the retokatoxin makes its way into the crust of your world, it will cause the planet to release a poisonous gas. I can control the poisonous gas, and choose who it kills."

The four of them all pulled out their morphers.

"In The Lane!" they called out, transforming.

The pulled out their blasters once more, firing at the monster over and over. It didn't fight back, instead running away. Steljax teleported in the monsters' path.

"If Rentox can't finish the job, I will," Stel said, taking out two swords and fighting the Rangers with him, who tried to shoot at him and dodge his attacks.

Kari jumped at him from behind, holding her hands over his eyes and trying to tackle him to the ground. Stel pushed her away, knocking her weapon to the floor and making her demorph.

The remaining three kept going at him, Stel knocking their weapons away in one stroke.

Kari picked up the four blasters, and, still unmorphed, started firing at Stel, getting as close as she could and continuing to go at it, summoning her own energy to power the blasters. The blast of power they created knocked his sword out of his hand. He reached for it, as did the four rangers. He wrestled it off the ground, as Zachary and Zara tackled him down. Kari gave Rosette two of the blasters and they started firing at Stel together.

Stel broke away from their attack. "This isn't over," he said, before teleporting away. Rosette turned around, shooting and destroying Rentox.

Zach pulled out his morpher, placing it on the ground. "This says it's fine, the monster-Rentox-seems not to have finished the job, there's nothing toxic in the ground in this area. All clear."

"Kay then," Zara said.


	8. Folly

**Folly**

Zara made her way up to Zach's attic again, where he was working on history homework while eating cake.

"Hey Zara," Zach said. "Do you want some cake?"

"Sure," Zara said, walking up to and sitting down next to him, and grabbing a fork, taking a piece.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Not much," she said. "I re-watched the first six Star Trek movies yesterday. Undiscovered Country is better than I remember; probably the best one."

"Better than Wrath of Khan?" Zach asked.

"I'm think so," Zara said. "I think the real question is whether or not it's better than The Voyage Home."

Zach flipped a page in his textbook.

"What are you doing?" Zara asked.

"Finding sources for my essay," Zach said. "Can you help?"

"Sure," Zara said.

He passed her his laptop, and she opened it and started typing up the introduction.

"Is Zach spelt with a H or a K?" Zara asked.

"Either way," Zach said, continuing to read. "God, I can't believe it's only Tuesday. It feels like a Thursday, at least."

"Yeah, I can't wait for the weekend," Zara said.

"Yeah, I really just want to sit here and do nothing," Zach said. "Eat cake."

"That's the dream," Zara said.

"I actually have to go right now," Zach said. "Teaching a self-defense class."

"Yeah, uh, how much does that pay?" Zara asked.

"A dollar every two hours," Zach said. "It's worth it thought. It's really rewarding."

"Go on," Zara said. "Bugger off. I'll just..stay here…and finish your cake."

"You'd better not," Zach said.

* * *

"What's going on in here?" Reed asked, exasperated as he motioned through his office, organizing boxes and finding Marnie buried under a pile of paperwork. She slowly rose up.

"I'm having things moved from my lab," Marnie said. "And they'll have to be here for now."

"Really?" Reed asked.

"Well my apartment is way to small to fit any of this stuff," Marnie said. "But in a few days I'll move it to a bigger lab, including the things that were already here, and then I'll be able to get out of your hair for everything except monitoring the team."

"Oh," Reed said. "Well, that's not so bad then."

Kari and Rosette walked through the door.

"Hi," Rosette said, smiling.

"What is going on here," Kari asked, tensing her face seeing she stepped in something that looked like gum. She hoped it was gum.

"Remove your shoes, Kari," Marnie said. "I think you stepped in the Exotarin."

Kari took off her shoes.

"I'll get you new ones," Marnie said. "Oh, and can you stop by Meadows Donuts, I have an associate there and I need to give him a device but I might be too busy."

"Sure!" Rosette said.

* * *

Zach had led his class of eight year olds out on to the field, where he guided them through practice. Looking up, he saw a lone Gel-Bat approaching.

He got into a battle stance, pulling his fists up, and kicking the monster. His students attempted to do the same. He wrestled with it for a moment before delivering the final blow, his students following after him and kicking the already defeated monster.

"Okay," he said, "good job."

* * *

Kari and Rosette made their way to Meadow's Donuts, where Marnie's client was sitting at a booth, dipping a ring donut into ketchup.

"Hey," Rosette said, sitting at the booth next to him. Kari followed suit, sitting across.

"You're with Atwell," he asked, before coughing into his napkin. "Do you have it?"

"Yeah," Kari said, sliding it across the table.

"You're rangers right?" he asked. "In with that crowd?"

"Yeah," Kari said.

"I was too, until I went freelance," he said. "Before I left, I hopped into the grid."

"How?" Rosette asked.

"You know how you enter the grid while you're transforming and you jump out?" he asked. "Well I stayed there for a while. Monster almost killed me but it was worth it. It completely enhanced all my senses, made me stronger, smarter. Then I gave up all my other stuff and offered to work with anyone as long as they paid enough."

"So you only protect people as a job?" Kari asked.

"Yeah, well protect or hurt people, doesn't matter who as long as I get paid, and it has to be upfront," he said. "But It allows me more time for my hobbies. And I don't have to deal with people like you."

"People like us?" Rosette asked.

"Yeah, looking at you, I can see you're, what, teen age, hipster, or at least you think you are, I can tell these things," he said. "You're still in with that crowd, so you're probably not very smart, no yeah, I think you're probably a bad student, and you seem like the kind of person to write poetry; or…songs."

"You can't talk to her like that," Kari said.

"I write poetry too, but at least it's actually good," he said. "And you, you seem sufficiently nerdy, so I think, or at least hope, for your sake, that you're smart. Your personality seems awful though, and you're tiny, small enough to step on. Someone is going to step on you eventually, it's just a fact, sorry."

"Oi!" Kari said, standing up and reaching for him, Kari stopping her.

"Bit of a temper too," he sighed.

"We'll be on our way," Rosette said, taking his box of donuts. "You don't deserve these."

"It won't change anything, you're still losers, trudging through life," he sighed.

"So are you," Kari said.

"I'm what you would call a perfectionist," he said. "Most of the time, I don't have to do anything at all. And I don't, unless I'm getting paid."

"Is many all you care about?" Rosette asked.

"Money makes the world go round, that's the only system that works," he said. "If someone paid me to take you out, I would. And could."

"Let's get out of here," Kari said.

* * *

Rosette looked down at the piano, sitting down on the stool by it and playing a few notes. Zach walked into the shop to see the piano there and her next to it.

"Why?" Zach asked.

"Marnie's having her stuff moved here for like a week," Kari said. "Come on, sit with me."

"I only know a few songs on the piano," Zach said as he walked up the piano. "I wanted to learn after piano fell through, and I was going to take more classes after the season ended, but then I got caught up with teaching karate and with this stuff."

"I though you said you couldn't play an instrument at all," Rosette said, smiling.

"I thought you said you couldn't," Zach said, her smile getting to him and making one of his own. "I guess we all have our secrets…quirks."

"You won't believe the guy we had to meet today," Rosette said. "He just kept insulting us. Those are his own donuts over there, there's like nine left," she said, pointing to the box.

Zach got up and grabbed one. "He dipped his in ketchup," Rosette said. Zach got ketchup out of Reed's fridge and squirted some onto the donut. "Not as bad as you'd think," he said.

Rosette chuckled.

"What did he say?" Zach asked.

Rosette sighed. "Just that Kari was short and nerdy and that I was dumb and a bad student and awful, and just, he didn't know us at all and even if he did he had no right to say that to us," she said.

"Good lord," Zach said as he took a second donut.

"He has all these superpowers and he uses them to kill anyone he's paid to kill," Rosette said. "So he might actually be a serious problem. I don't know what the deal is between him and Marnie, just that he used to work here, and there's probably a history."

"Yikes," Zach said as he took a third. "Where's Kari now?"

"She's training with Mr. Reed downstairs," Rosette said.

* * *

Kari sighed and grunted as she continued working, punching the training dummy continually, with a rage she hadn't felt in a while.

"I hate this," she sighed. "I hate being angry at all, I don't want to hurt anything or anyone."

"That's okay," Reed said.

"'No, I really hate it, I hate anger, I waste anger," Kari said. "I waste time…being angry. My anger is ruining my life."

"It isn't bad, and it won't destroy you if you don't let it," Reed said. "Don't fight yourself to get rid of it," he added, pointing the her heart, "Keep it here, in the heart of your heart, and use it to fight."

"I don't want to fight forever," Kari said.

Reed started walking away, before stopping. "Who wants to fight forever?" he asked.

He turned back to her and look her in the eyes, seeing she was tearing up. He walked back up to her and he held her in his arms for a moment. "If fighting really isn't for you, then don't fight. If anger isn't the emotion for you, then let it go, or find an outlet where it is. Try to be the person you want to be, but don't hate the person you are for not being her."

"I can't hate the person I am," Kari said. "I don't know who she is."

"I do," Reed said.

"Is she nice?" Kari asked.

"You'll love her," Reed said. "Go upstairs, go..talk to Rosette."

Kari picked up her bag and walked up stairs.

"Hey, do you want a donut?" Zach asked. "There's one left."

"You can take it," Kari said. "I think I'm going to go home, I have a lot of homework to do."

"Do you want to come hiking with me and my cousin tomorrow?" Rosette asked.

"Sure," she said.

"I'll text you the details," Rosette said.


	9. Reflection Time

**Authors Note:**

**I appreciate all of your comments, on reviews, PMs, tumblr and everything else.**

**BTW, if haven't seen Zach's tumblr, you are missing out on some serious quality.**

**Now, let's turn to the next chapter of Science Lanes -**

**Reflection Time**

* * *

"No, yeah, those rangers, they think they're cool, but I don't think fighting those Gel-Bats is that bad, cause I saw one, and thought it was dead, I thought, I thought it was pushing up daisies, you know, gone, taken care of, but it wasn't, and I like, I got attacked, it just grabbed me and by the time it was done, it was pushing up daisies, like it should have been, so yeah, I'm, I think, just as good as them, right," Mark said to Zach, Zara and Kari, the four of them sitting at the lunch room in the minutes before class.

"You're just as good as them?" Zara asked.

"Yeah," Mark said. "I know one thing I'm better at," he added, looking into Zara's eyes.

"Wait, so you, you're being, um suggestive, right now?" Zach asked.

"What?" Mark asked.

"Cause you said that and you were looking at Zara, and it was like-" he continued saying.

"I mean yeah, cause I'm her boyfriend," Mark said.

"Yeah, but, like, you were saying there was something you were better at, which means you must have had some experience, like, with all four of them," Kari said.

"I wouldn't…have to," Mark said.

"No, yeah, but like, yeah you would," Kari said.

"What she said," Zach said.

"That's what she said," Mark said.

"She said 'What she said,'?" Zach asked.

"Which she was she referring to?" Kari asked.

"Am I the she?" Zara asked.

"You're not..you're not the second she, cause Kari's the second she, right?" Zach asked.

"I think I'm the first she," Zara said.

"I just wanted to feel included," Mark said.

"Aw," Zara said.

"I'll push up your daisies," Mark said, looking into Zara's eyes.

"Excuse me?" Zach asked.

"What?" Mark asked.

"We just want to know what you meant by that because we were, once again, being suggestive," Kari said.

"And?" Mark asked.

"What were you suggesting?" Zach asked.

"I don't know, man," Mark said.

"Well, you know, maybe," Zach said, awkwardly adjusting his seating.

"I wasn't thinking," Mark said.

"Maybe you should think, that's what schools are for," Zach said.

"Well not really but yeah," Kari said.

"Yeah, not really but yeah," Zach said.

Zara looked at her watch. "Let's get to class," Zara said.

"First good idea you've had all day," Mark said.

"Huh?" Zach asked.

"What?" Zara asked.

"No, just sometimes it seems like you two really don't like each other," Zach said, now making awkward hand gestures.

"Yeah," Kari said.

"Well, we do," Zara said.

"Yeah, definitely something we talk about," Mark said.

"Huh?" Kari asked.

"Talking is important, we'd be nothing without it," Mark said.

"You," Zach said. "You two would be nothing without, I mean, yeah, I think-"

"Well, right, but, like, I mean, like, all people, right?" Mark said.

"Well not true, really," Zach said. "I guess."

"You don't like talking?" Mark asked.

"No, I like it personally just not everyone can, right," Kari said.

"Yeah, like, I had a friend, she's actually…she's actually coming to visit today. Best friend of six years. She was completely mute, completely selectively mute, I never heard her talk, except, except one, but that didn't count, she was, good listener though, or at least I thought so, turned out she was deaf too, great personality, she was a concert guitarist…or a concert violinist…maybe," Zach said.

"Yeah, I guess," Mark said.

"Just, something to consider," Zach said. "Not everyone can talk. Not everyone should talk."

"Well what do you mean by that?" Mark asked.

"Nothing," Zach said, picking up his backpack and walking away.

Mark also walked away.

"So," Kari said. "Zara, how are you doing?"

"OK, I think," Zara said.

* * *

Later

* * *

The team arrived at the scene of the battle, finding Rentox, who was standing atop a drill.

They shot at him.

"I thought we took care of this one," Zach said.

The monster summoned a group go Gel-Bats to attack them. They attempted to fight them off.

"Back then was just the beginning," Rentox said, leaping off the drill and extending his fingers out into their suits, releasing a toxin into them. "You will be the last of my victims, but I trust my compatriots to finish the job."

"Sleep," he said in a deep gravelly voice.

The four of them fell to the ground, their eyes getting heavy, their legs giving out.

The Gel-Bats crowded around the fallen ranger, tearing apart and eating their ranger suits.

"This shall be how I end my life," Rentox said as his body folded in and turned to dust. "Ending yours too," his now disembodied voice added.

The team of four found themselves in a cloudy space they assumed was a dream. Lady V walked up to them.

"This is how it ends for you," she said. "With you out of the way, we can get back to our original plans."

They tried to fight back but felt their bones betraying them, and then thoughts entering their minds asking them to give in, their entire bodies being turned against them by this dreamlike state, the voice of Lady V repeating her words over and over, and then that of Rentox.

And then in the distance, they saw Reed, and Marnie, appearing, but as enemies, turning against their students. And then the four of them looked up and realized they were fighting each other.

Rentox and Lady V's voices became louder, echoing through the space. Then the two combined, to one monstrous result. The voice was everywhere, physically and mentally, fighting them, making them fight their selves.

"No!" Rosette said.

"No!" Kari said.

"No!" Zara said.

"No!" Zach said.

Nobody heard their cries, not each other, not even their selves. Their nightmares drowned them out.

"It's not just us," Zach said. "I can see..more people, here with us..and then I can't. They're all dreaming.'

"These dreams all sound the same," Zara said.

"I don't know if you guys can hear me," Kari said. "I want you too."

"We have to keep fighting!" Rosette said.

"There is no escape," Lady V said.

"These are our dreams," one of them cried. It didn't matter which anymore. Their individuality was being drowned out.

"We have to wake up," one of them said.

"How?" another asked.

"I don't know," the first cried. "We don't know."

"Wake up!" a new voice cried.

The four of them opened their eyes. They were in laying on the ground, Reed and Marnie standing over them.

"How long were we out?" Kari asked.

"Four days," Marnie said. "Half the city was out."

"That was only a taste of her power," Reed said.

"You mean it worse?" Zach asked.

"It always does," Marnie said.

And true to form, it did. Behind the six of them laid the bones and dust of Rentox, which turned to stone, then to flesh, creating a new Rentox, one at least five times as large as the first.

The six of them turned around, to see Rentox. Marnie pulled out an earpiece.

"Send out the zords," she said through it.

Just as Rentox began to attack the city, four colossal machines rode in, in all their majesty, firing off. The first resembled a tank, the second a train, the third a warship, and the fourth a plane.

The four rangers pulled out their morphers, as Marnie handed to them four cubes with small colored statues in them.

"These are your chargers, they'll reposer your morphers, and allow you to control the zords," Marnie said. "And those are the Elemental Drivers."

"Call out 'In The Lane,' and insert these chargers, take power over the zords," Reed said.

The four of them nodded, holding up the chargers, and taking them on.

"In the Lane!" they called out.

Reed and Marnie looked up to see a group of Gel-Bats attacking on the ground, taking out people and the street. The two of them pulled out their guns and started shooting them, as the rangers took control of the Elemental Drivers to fight Rentox.

Reed and Marnie cleared through the first crowd of Gel-Bats. Marnie looked up at the battle, seeing the rangers and Rentox at a stalemate.

"You can combine the Drivers," Marnie said to them over a communicator. "Turn the lever on your cockpits that say Spirit Drive."

The four of them did as such, and suddenly tubes began connecting the drivers. Zach, Zara and Rosette went through the tubes Kari's cockpit, which transformed into a group cockpit. The four now morphed individuals took arms and became a team.

Zach's driver, the Soaring Eagle and Zara's driver, the Golden Falcon became the head and shoulders, Kari's driver, the Polaris Star becoming the torso and arms, and Rosette's driver, the Force Spider, becoming a leg.

The newly created Spirit Driver Megazord hopped up and down for a moment, before jumping up and kicking through Rentox.

Achievement Unlocked! a voice said. Another charger appeared in front of them - The Spirit in The Sky.

Kari picked it up, inserting into the space. The charger activated, releasing a wave that eliminated the rest of the Gel-Bats.

* * *

Zara made her way back home to start homework, Marcus following after her and arriving in her bedroom a few minutes later.

"Marcus," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"I want to talk to you," he said, walking up to her and kissing her on the forehead.

"What?" she asked, looking lovingly in his eyes.

"I can't believe I've come this far, and yet when I look into those eyes it's the only thing I can think of," Mark said. "I—I don't love you."

"What?" Zara asked.

"I don't love you," Mark said, getting up. "You're going to be gone for days, I crave companionship, I'm obviously going to cheat on you."

"What?" Zara asked.

"Exactly," Mark said.

"Do you think we should break up?" Zara asked.

"It would help," Mark said. Zara got up, walking up to him. Mark held on to her wrist for a moment, seeing her morpher slightly further up for it.

"What's this?" he asked.

"You don't need to know, we're not dating anymore," Zara said.

"It was on your wrist when we were dating," Mark said.

"What?" Zara asked. "What?"

"Is there a problem?" Mark asked. "You don't trust me?"

"You just said you weren't trustworthy," Zara said.

"I was lying," Mark said.

"That's not a thing trustworthy people do," Zara said.

Mark grabbed her and kissed her.

"I love you," she said.

"I know, right," Mark said.

"If you must know…I haven't told that many people…I'm the gold ranger," she said.

"Like…power ranger," Mark asked, turning around from her. "You're the gold power ranger?"

"Yes," Zara said.

"No, this is just an excuse, you wear all that trashy gold clothing, you want an excuse for being trashy," Mark said. "Well, try harder next time."

"I didn't think I had to try around you," Zara said. "I'm sorry, it's the truth."

"I can't except it," Mark said. "If you want to continue being my girlfriend, you'll have to quit," he added, walking back up to her and grabbing her hands.

"Let me go," Zara said.

He held tighter.

"If you love me let me go," Zara said, pulling herself off him, he struggling with her.

"I can't let go!" Mark said. "Just give up!"

"I don't want to," Zara said, pulling away, the two of them falling on her bed.

Zara started tearing up, approaching a cry, that turned into a forced chuckle. Mark got up, turning to her, and the two kissed, falling off the bed.

"Come on," Mark said.

"Get out," Zara said. "Please."

"If you insist," Mark said, walking into the door. "See, I can collaborate."

Zara started to cry.

"And just in case it wasn't clear, I'm breaking up with you."

* * *

The Next Day, Early Morning

"There are a lot of ways to fight," Reed said as he approached Kari, holding a long box. The two of them stood by a lake, on a field of grass. Reed opened the box to reveal a sword.

"This was one of the first weapons I learnt how to use," Reed said. "And I anted to teach you."

"Is this sword mine to keep?" Kari asked.

"Not yet," Reed said.

Kari looked down on it, admiring it for a moment.

"All right, let's begin," Reed said, pulling out a sword of his own.


	10. A Questionable Proposal

**Authors' Note**:

Zack's tumblr account, **eagle-bird**, will keep updating for the time being. I also have a blog for Trishia, **letusbedancers**, so there'll be some interaction between the two of them that I'm excited about.

There's also **sciencelane**, the out of world blog for the series, which has morphed into a general writing/PR blog, but will still feature art and writing about the characters, and maybe even previews or deleted scenes or anything like that. Let me if know if there's anything specific you want to see there, any characters you want to see drawn, etc.

* * *

**A Questionable Proposal**

"So what do you want me to do?" Mark asked Saulie as the two of them walked into the jewelry store.

"Buy the ring," she said.

"I can't," he replied. "I can't spend that much money."

"Zara's rich, and when you get married that money'll be yours and you can pay yourself back," Saulie said.

"I'm just not sure," Mark said. "I mean I can make her want to marry me, if I want, she's still really broken up about me."

"But?" Saulie asked.

"But I'm not sure I want to," he said, looking at the ring display.

"Look, it's worth it," Saulie said. "It's not like you're tying yourself down, you said you've got her wrapped around you, right, so you can just cheat on her if you want."

"Fine," Mark said. "I'll do it."

* * *

Paul Saperstein paced up and down the room, waiting for the response.

"Hello," Rosette said over the phone.

"Rosetta," he said. "You're friends with Zara Wallach, right?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Well, do you know Mark Matthews-Jones?" he asked.

"Yeah, they were dating, right, the two of them?" Rosette asked.

"He's going to propose to him," he said. "My sister Saulie told me about it, he talked Mark into it."

"What?" Rosette asked.

"I was talking to people about it, I wanted to talk to Zara, but I don't know her well, and I know you do," Paul said.

"I'll try to talk to her," Rosette said.

* * *

Zara walked up to the dinner table to talk to her father and her aunt, pulling up a chair and sitting down, her face sunken.

"Are you okay?" her father asked.

"I heard that Mark was going to propose to me," she said.

"Seriously?" he asked. "I thought you finally broke up with that kid."

"I did, but, I don't know, I'm conflicted," she said. "I've never been into someone as much as I've been into him, which—isn't saying much—but still. I guess I feel obligated."

"Never feel obligated to do anything," her aunt said. "Especially love."

"I don't want him causing any more trouble for you," her father said.

"How do you know he's going to propose?" her aunt asked.

"My friend Rosette told me," she said. "She said it had something to do with us being rich."

Her father almost choked on his drink. "We're not rich," he said.

"I know that," she sighed. "But apparently he doesn't."

* * *

Rosette made her way to the house, knocking on the door, and Paul answering and leading her up to his room.

"Hey," Rosette said.

"Hey," Paul said in response as they sat down on his bed. "How're you doing?"

"Good," she said. "Pirouetting through life as usual, to borrow a phrase."

"Nice to hear," Paul said.

"How are you and Pat?" Rosette asked.

"We broke up," Paul said.

"Do you know the deal with Zara?" he asked.

"I told her," Rosette sad. "Her next move is up to her."

"I've just…I've heard stories about Mark, and what he does to his girlfriends," he said.

"Yeah, he's..he's something else," Rosette said. "I hope Zara's okay."

Saul knocked on the door, then walked into the room.

"Hey," she said. "I kind of got Mark and Zara back together."

"Hopefully not," Paul said.

"Mark got in my head," Saul said. "He made me want to help him, and that was the only way I could think of."

"I don't think I'm that worried," Rosette said. "I'm sure Zara knows what she's doing."

Kari knocked on the door.

"Come in," Saulie said.

Kari walked in, sitting down next to Saul on the floor.

"What are we talking about?" Kari asked.

"Zara might be getting married," Paul said.

"Maybe we should bring Zack in," she said. "He's been married before."

"That was different, though," Rosette said. "Like, Zara and Mark aren't being forced, it's their choice."

"Oh yeah, Zack and Trishia," Paul said. "I always wanted to know what happened there."

"It's a long story," Rosette sighed.

"I'm calling Zach," Saulie said.

Fifteen minutes later, Zach knocked on the door and entered the room, sitting next to Rosette.

"I heard about Zara," Zach said. "I think…as a divorcee..I can offer a unique perspective."

"You were married for five minutes and then she ran for the hills," a voice said behind him. It was Zara.

"We still keep in touch," Zach said.

"How did it go?" Rosette asked, her hand squeezing a pillow.

"Could have gone better," Zara said. "I think it's over between us. For good."

"Well that's good," Kari said. "If that's what you want."

"I think it is," Zara said.

The six of them talked for a few more hours, before they slowly started leaving, until it was just Paul and Rosette left, sitting on opposite sides of the bed.

"What about you, are you seeing anyone?" Paul asked.

"No, not right now," Rosette said. "I don't know, but I've been thinking about romance…a lot lately, because I was trying to find someone for Zara, and then all this happened, and…I don't know. What about you, anything on the horizon?"

"I don't know," Paul said.

Rosette turned to the side. "Well…good night."

"Good night," Paul said, unmoving.


	11. Hit Me With Your Best Shot

**Hit Me With Your Best Shot**

Rosette turned to her bed, checking to see what the time was and seeing it was as good of one as any to go to sleep. She yawned, making her way to her bed. She checked her phone for a moment, seeing the had seven texts.

Just as she was about to start answering them, she got a phone call, from Saulie.

"Hey," Saulie said.

"Hi," Rosette said.

"I wanted to invite you a small party thing I'm doing, on, um, Saturday, the weekend after next," she said.

"Oh I don't think I have anything going on," Rosette said. "I'll probably be there."

"Good," Saulie said. "I think we can be really good friends."

* * *

"Ah, yes, chess, a very interesting choice," Zack said. He started setting up the board. "What do you know about the history of chess?" he asked Hannah, his younger sister.

"Nothing," Hannah said, hands folded. "I just need someone to practice with, for the tournament."

"I'll do more than that," he said. "I will teach you all of my best moves, and everything you need to know so you ca win every time."

"Okay…" Hannah said.

"But to understand, we first have to go back to the original chess player," Zach said.

"Why?" Hannah asked, folding her head back.

"So that we can appreciate it," Zach said. "Get Tor and Amy in here too, I want to spread my teachings to as many people as possible."

"Maybe I should practice with one of them," Hannah said.

"Our dear younger sisters don't know how to play chess yet," Zach sighed. "And neither do you, yet, really. But you can."

"Fine," Hannah sighed.

* * *

Rosette made her way out of her house, and into her car. She drove for a while, finding herself approaching Kari's house, and saw Kari stepping out.

"Do you want a ride?" Rosette asked.

"Sure," Kari said, stepping into the car.

Rosette continued driving, stopping at The Fair Dance Diner and stepping out of the car.

"Do you want anything?" Rosette asked.

"No thank you," Kari said.

Rosette stepped in, standing in line for what felt like an hour.

"Do you have the time?" A woman asked.

"It's 6:15 AM," she said, looking down at her watch. "You have a watch too, though, that's, that's what it says on you watch."

The woman looked down at her own watch. "I..uh..I wanted a second opinion."

Rosette looked at the woman for a moment.

"I just wanted to talk to you," she added.

"Why?" Rosette asked.

"Because I wanted to see if you remembered me," she said.

Rosette looked at her for another moment.

"Do you hate me?" she asked.

"No," Rosette said. "I just don't understand why you abandoned me."

"I didn't know where you, or your father were," she said.

"You and him never talked?" Rosette asked.

"Not after the divorce," she said. "It was too painful for both of us."

* * *

"I think we should go through with this marriage," Mark said, walking up to Zara in the school halls

"I'm not sure if I want to," Zara sighed. Marcus took his hands off her shoulders, standing next to her instead of in front of her, and asking again.

"I get if you don't want to," Mark said. "But I think it's the best thing for both of us."

"I want to be alone," Zara said as Mark moved in front of her. He maintained the same distance as she tried to walk away.

"You want some time to your self, yeah," Mark sighed. "It's cool, Zara, I get that."

"I just think we had a lot of problems," Zara sighed.

"I mean, yeah, Zara, we did have problems, yes," Mark said, nodding. "Everyone has problems, though."

Zara nodded. "I mean, we had our good moments."

"We had good moments, yeah," Mark said, moving to stand next to her instead of in front. "Really think about this, Zara."

* * *

"Can you help me out, Zara." Mark said, meeting her in the halls again. "Please," he added.

"What do you want now?" Zara asked, leaning back against the wall.

"Can I borrow a pencil Zara?" she asked.

"Sure," Zara sighed, reaching into her bag to get a pencil

She handed it to him. "Thank you Zara," Mark said.

* * *

"Hey there," Mona said, dragging her tuba along as she approached Saulie. "Do you know what's going on with Mark?"

"How d'you mean?" Saulie asked.

"Well was talking about marching band, saying he wanted to do, like, a mini flash mob thing to impress Zara," she told her.

"Huh, weird," Saulie said.

"I thought they broke up," Mona asked.

"He wants her back, or something," Saulie said.

"Seems a bit much, don't you think?" Mona asked. "Especially if they broke up."

"What did you say?" Saulie asked.

"No, obviously," she said. "I mean, I didn't even know what was going on..or how to respond to that."

"He's a weird one," Saulie agreed.

"Yeah," Mona said.

* * *

Later…..

Zara made her way into her living room, seeing Mark sitting there.

"What are you doing here?" Zara asked as she made her way up to him.

"I had a free period at the end of the day," Mark said. "I waited for you to get home."

"Why?" Zara asked.

"You left your phone here," Mark said.

"Yeah, by accident," she sighed.

"You've texted a lot of people over the past few days, she said, picking up her phone and standing up in front of her. "I thought you said you wanted to be alone."

"Let's be reasonable," Zara said.

"Hey, hey, hey, Zara," Mark said, moving to stand next to her and putting his arm over her shoulder. "I'm not the one who was lying."

"It's not like we're dating," Zara said.

"Do you want to?" Mark asked. "And before you answer, really think about what you're saying."

"I guess…kind of," Zara said.

"See," Mark said. "So you have to be honest with me."

"I didn't lie though," Zara said. "There are different kinds of being alone, and I don't want to date any of those people."

"Actions speak louder than words," he said, sitting down on her sofa. "I'm still betrayed, but I forgive you. Come on, let's watch TV."

She sat down with him.

"What're you doing tonight," he asked, turning his head up to her.

"Going to the gym," she sighed, stroking his hair.

"I fee like you're always exercising," he said. "Given that I support you with your ranger thing, and thatI've kept your secret, I think the least you can do is invest time in me, and not it."

"Fine, I guess," Zara said.

* * *

Zack walked in his front door to see Hannah on the couch, sitting next to her dog, who was wearing glasses. Seeing him, she picked him up and walked over to Zack.

"You found the dog?" Zack asked.

"Yeah," Hannah said. "I think he was trying to run away."

"From you?" Zack asked.

"No, he was just started by the fireworks last night," Hannah said. "Weren't you, Greensleeves?" Hannah kissed her on the nose.

"Why's she wearing glasses?" Zack asked.

"Because it's cute," Hannah said.

* * *

"Do you want to order food online?" Zara asked.

"Okay," Mark said.

"I'm thinking Marionis. They have great salads," Zara sighed.

"Are you sure you want a salad?" Mark asked.

Zara sighed. "They taste—"

"Maybe we should split a steak," Mark said. "What do you think, Zara?"

"I guess that's okay," Zara said.

She got a text. "Sorry," she said. "There's a monster attack."

* * *

The rangers charged over to the park, where a large armed monster was punching the ground. The four of them pulled out their guns, firing at it while charging. The monster hit them, knocking Zach and Kari's guns out of their hands. Rosette picked them up, firing, Zara firing with her gun.

Rosette felt her gun fall to the ground and saw the monster pick it up and shoot at her, as she shot with Zach and Kari's guns.

She charged at the monsters' stomach, getting knocked out of the way and dropping the guns.

Zach and Kari picked up their guns and shot at the monster, Zara going towards Rosette, checking to see if she was okay.

Zara and Rosette joined Zach and Kari in the charge, Rosette picking up her gun. The monster charged at them, knocking them out of the way. Rosette jumped on the monsters' back, punching her, when the monster grabbed her. The monster sighed as she threw Rosette up into the air, Rosette shooting and destroying her as she flew away.

Rosette tried to land, trying to point herself towards the ground. She just kept flying. She wondered when it was going to be over, when she could get back to the action.

She sighed, trying to get it to stop. It wasn't. And then she realized she was up, in the air, away from the city, away from the world and up into space. She started to stop, somewhere removed from the planet. An alert appeared on her screen, informing her that her suit was damaged. And that she had limited oxygen left.

Marnie appeared on a screen above her on her helmet.

"We're going to try to get the zords to bring you back down, okay," she said. "How long do you have."

"11 minutes," Rosette said.

"We'll do everything we can," Reed said, appearing next to Marnie. The screen shut off.

Rosette took a deep breath, before remembering she had limited oxygen.

"I…I am going to die," she said. She didn't really think she would. She thought she would get rescues, that they'd get to her in time. But then more time passed.

'I'm drifting,' she thought.

'I'm not even sure if you can call it drifting. I'm floating in space, no way home, no oxygen…well, that's not true I have oxygen, enough to live, enough to live for ten minutes.

Thats not enough time. That's not enough time to do anything. Even if I was on Earth, even if I wasn't alone here, that wouldn't be enough time to say goodbye to the people I love, all the people who love me, and who care. I want them to know I'm okay, but since I'm not okay I just want them to know that they're okay, and I love them and they're amazing.

I don't even know if I am alone. I can't move my head, this helmet is frozen stuck, so I can't see anything except what's ahead of me. And there's nothing ahead of me.

I guess that's consistent, huh? That's what it was like…in my life. I always wanted to live in the moment, and even if I never owned it, I always tried. I always tried to be myself, as much of myself as I could be with society telling me what I wanted me to be, and what was left of my family wanting whatever they wanted out of me, and me wanting to know about the rest of my family, what they were like.

I don't know anything. Or at least, not enough. I thought I did, I thought I knew enough, but I don't, I never had. I am not smart.

I am not bright. I am not an academic. I am not an artist. And, in a very short time, there's something else I won't be.

Alive.

What I am? I am drifting. I am everything right now because all that's around me is nothing, and I'm drifting in it, and I'm…I'm whatever comes with being alone and drifting. And I could do this on Earth. I could be alone, and drifting and dying. People choose to be alone, to drift and to kill themselves. And some people want to but they're too afraid, and I know people like that. I know both. Well..knew both.

I'm so sorry, I just wanted things to change and now they can't and I'm laying here and I' still trying to figure out what any of this is about which I can't because I'm not smart and I don't have time, and if I had people with me maybe we could or if we couldn't we could just enjoy our last moments together. Or save each other.

I never thought I would die alone. I always thought someone would be there, crying over me. I know, or I think they know, that they're going to cry but..but..I lost my train of thought there for a second. That could be the last time I ever do that.'

Rosette closed her eyes for a moment. Another alert came up on her screen, she was running out of oxygen, but her zord was flying up to her. To help her. The way she thought about it it had a 50/50 chance of getting to her in time. She didn't want to take the chance, she thought. She wanted resolution. And for a moment she though it was better to assume there was no way to get to it, and not try.

She pushed her feet, trying to drift to the flat surface atop the zord instead of aimlessly. It absorbed her, taking her in. She felt as it descended back to Earth, back to where she thought she'd land on her own.

* * *

Saulie looked up, seeing Rosette approaching the school gates.

"Hey," she said to her. "I heard about everything."

"What did you hear?' Rosette asked.

"Just that you got into an accident skiing," Saulie said. "Why, did something else happen?"

"No, that's it I guess," Rosette said.

"You totally should have gotten at least a day off to recover from the trauma I'm sure you're in."

"I could have if I wanted to," Rosette said. "But I thought I was doing badly enough in school without skipping a day. And after something like that happened, I just wanted things to get back to normal."

"Are you still coming to my party?" Saulie asked.

"Sure," Rosette said.

* * *

Author's Note:

I've been working on this one for a while. I really like where the story is going! If you want, tell me what you thought about it, what you think about the characters, plot, etc! Your opinions are valid!

If you haven't already, check out Zach's tumblr account, eagle-bird, as well as the series' tumblr official account, sciencelane.


	12. Strike Time

**Strike Time**

**Authors Note: I'm really proud of this chapter, I hope you enjoy it. I hoped to have it up earlier in the week but I needed to fine tune it first.**

**Also, if you haven't already, check out the series blog, sciencelane, and Zach's in world blog, eagle-bird.**

Saulie was standing by her locker, seeing she was getting a phone call. Mark.

She started pacing.

"Well, if it isn't the walking compass," Saulie said, still moving. "That's what they're calling you. Um, yeah, why didn't you come to school today. Is it Zara?"

As Mark continued to respond back and forth, she began pacing less, as Mike began to tell her his side of the story, to him learning how to treat relationships from his father to the string of relationships he developed, trying to find the easiest person to destroy.

"Can't you apologize to her?" Saulie asked. "Please?"

* * *

Zara sat down at the steps by the entrance to the shop, Rosette arriving a few minutes later and Zara greeting her, and then resting her head on Rosette's shoulder as she sat down.

"How does it feel?" Rosette asked.

"Do you remember Mark's girlfriend before me?" Zara asked.

"No," Rosette said.

"Well, she was nice, he treated her horribly," Zara said. "He wanted to cheat on her, and he did. With me."

"I thought—"

"I went along with it, I don't even know, I was so confused at the time, but he'd gotten to me, and I'd wanted to do something bad and then I fell in love with him, and he was all bad, and I thought, I could help him hurt her. And then he broke up with her, and I helped him hurt me."

"What?" Rosette asked.

"And then, when I became a ranger, I got this sense that I needed to go good instead of bad, that the course I was going down before was pointless," she continued. "But Mark wouldn't let go, and I wouldn't let go, and our relationship evolved. And sometimes it was better, and sometimes it was worse."

"And?" Rosette asked.

"And I don't know," Zara said. "I'm just really glad that that's over."

Zara Kari and Rosette made their way to the basement and sat gathered in a triangle, backs leant against the furniture, faces laced with insecurity.

"I don't want to fall in love," Zara said. "It wasn't easy for me, but I tried it, and it was hard, and I'm never doing it again."

"I thought you two got back together?" Kari said.

"We did. But then I realized we should't have, and broke it off for good," Zara said.

"So, are you're aromatic?" Kari asked.

"Grey-romantic, I think," Zara said.

"Hey," Zach said as he entered the door and set his coat down. "Did you hear what happened over the weekend?"

"No," Zara said. "Why?"

"A few days ago, a bunch of us were playing a game of basketball, and I was on one team, and Mark, Mark was on another. And I was anxious, because of the history between Mark and Zara. Zara, Zara wasn't there but she was there in spirit. And Mark seemed really upset more upset than I though, which is good, I guess, because Mark is a tosser, and we were there, sprinting and up down the court, and Mark just got confused and emotional and started running in every direction. And so we started making fun of him, calling him the human compass, because he was bad at directions, and compasses aren't….usually," Zach said.

"Oh," Zara said.

"You two broke up, right?" Zach asked.

"Yeah," Zara said.

"Well, we're here," Rosette said. "For you.."

Reed entered and led them outside to a field.

"For today's exercise, we'll be running up and down this track," Reed said.

"Clockwise or counterclockwise?" Zach asked.

"Neither, you just run up the track from the start line to the finish line, and then walk back," Reed said, making hand gestures at the track.

"But if it was on a clock, what direction would the line be?" Zach asked.

"I don't know, you'd just put a line on a clock I guess," Reed said.

"Can I see you draw the path of the track onto the clock, just so that there's no confusion?" Zach asked.

"I don't have a clock," Reed said.

"You have a watch," Zach pointed out.

"Zach, be nice," Kari said.

"He can take it," Zach said. He looked up at Reed for a moment, then down at Kari, Rosette and Zara. Zara looked at him, and nodded.

* * *

**The Next Day…**

* * *

"Are you okay?" Zach asked Zara, seeing the nervous movements of her face as she skipped nervously around the shop room, and hearing her heavy breathing.

"I'm just worried," she said.

"Why?" Zach asked.

"I'm getting a C in Spanish," Zara said.

"Well I can help you study," Zach said.

"What grade are you getting?" Zara asked.

"I'm getting a D," Zach said.

Reed, Marnie, Kari and Rosette entered within, the next strip of moments, Marnie quickly disappearing the part of Reed's office identified as her laboratory.

"How're you guys doing?" Kari asked.

"We were just talking about Spanish," Zach said.

"Apparently I'm getting a C this term," Zara sighed.

"Well I'm getting a D- every term," Rosette said.

"I was stationed in Spain for a few years, and I became quite fluent in the language," Reed said. "Maybe I could help you."

"What about training?" Zach asked.

"This is important," Reed said. "When I was hired I was told I needed for the rangers, you guys, to keep your grades up, and get at least C's."

"Well I'm getting a C," Zara said.

"Well you need to get at least a B," he said, pointing at her. He ran to his office, and came out a few moments later with text books and flashcards, which he started handing out before pulling out a whiteboard and writing out a lesson plan.

He turned to Kari. "What grade are you getting in this class?"

"An A," Kari said.

"Can you help me out here?" he asked.

"Sure," she said.

"Here we go," he said.

"How are you feeling about it now?" Reed asked as he stepped away from the board.

"Better," Zara said, getting up to leave, Rosette going up to talk to her.

"How about you?" Reed asked.

"Better, yeah," Zach said.

"How many languages do you speak?" Reed asked.

"English, some Ukrainian, some Polish," he said. "And I'm starting to pick up American Sign Language."

"I have to go," Kari said. "I need to raise money for TVF."

"I wouldn't want this affecting your training," Reed said.

"Should I stay?" Kari asked.

"How much money do you need?" Reed asked.

"200 dollars," Kari said.

"I'll give you the money," he said.

"So where do you see TVF going?" Reed asked.

"I don't know yet," Kari said. "I started it because I wanted to feel less guilty about quitting, but I didn't quit so I don't know. But it might be good to keep around, and, like, make it my career eventually."

"Well, just remember whatever you do, make it something you love," Reed said. "You know the old saying, if you love your work and you do good work, you never work a day in your live."

"Yeah," Zach said. "It's like my grandmother, right. She's retired, but she used to be a forklift operator. And this one time, the forklift fell over and almost crushed her legs. And she said that she'd better retire. And I said, I was there, by the way, it was take your grandchild to work day, and I said you should be proud of the work you did, because she should be, she worked for so many years…operating forklifts, and she pulled me up and she said, sonny, I've never worked a day in my life. So yeah, it's an important lesson yeah."

"Do you have a future plan, Zach?" Kari asked.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to be a musician," Zach, "And I can play Wonderwall on the guitar so..yeah."

The alarm began to ring. The Rangers looked at each other, then nodded.

"Where's attack?" Kari asked.

"The Warehouse At The Edge Of The Town," Reed said.

The Rangers morphed and arrived there, Zach pulling out his gun. They entered to see a group of Gel-Bats, holding Saulie prisoner.

"Let her go!" Rosette shouted out, shooting the Gel-Bats and then running up to Saulie to untie her. The 3 other Rangers kept shooting at the remaining Gel-Bats, the Gel-Bats getting some strikes in and demorphing the four of them, but being destroyed quickly.

"Do you know why they were going after you?" Zara asked.

"No," Saulie said, still holding onto to Rosette. "Mark was talking to me, trying to defend his actions when it came to you, and then they started attacking him, but he got away so they took me instead. But I don't even get why they went after him."

"Has he talked to you about his father at all?" Zach asked.

"No, why?" Saulie asked.

"Mark's dad was friends with Chris Scotsdale, the guy who started all this," Rosette said. "He was one of his motivators for starting the attacks, trying to change the world."

"Trying to save it," they heard a voice say. Chris.

Chris appeared in front of them, Steljax, Lady Vampir and Veramax hanging alongside him.

"And we will," Chris said. "The ends justify the means. We'll leave you be for now, but be aware of this. We're closer than ever to figuring out your weaknesses. And once we do, it's the end for you. And please, take note, we have nothing against you personally but you uphold the old order, and we want a new one."

"I agree, this country, this planet, needs to change, and the people in power are a threat, and maybe, probably, we need to be violent, but there's a better way to go about it," Kari said. "We just want people to be safe. You don't care who you hurt as long as you get what you want, and what you want is to be in power yourself."

"Simmer down, shorty," Chris said.

Kari felt a twinge of anger, as she pulled out her morpher. "It's time to end you."

Steljax ran at them, hitting the five teenagers with his sword, before returning to position in a super fast flash. The five of them fell down to the floor, starting to bleed.

"No, it's time for us to begin," Chris said, he and his team teleporting away.

"Are you okay," Rosette asked Saulie as she helped her up.

"I think so," Saulie said, hugging Rosette.

"Remember, you can't tell anyone about what you know," Zara said.

"Okay, I promise," Saulie said.

"What now?" Kari asked.

"We'll figure it out," Zara said.


	13. Poise and Rationality

**Poise and Rationality**

* * *

**Authors' Note: **

**Hope you enjoy the chapter! ****I was curious what you guys wanted to see more of in this story. I have a plan for where's it going, but if you have any suggestions you can leave them in the comment box!**

**Zach's tumblr: eagle-bird**

**Series tumblr: sciencelane**

**Review, subscribe, or whatever else you want!**

* * *

"I get it now," Kari sighed, as she kept punching the bag. Since getting into the swing of becoming a ranger, she felt like she understood her emotions better, and as she practiced getting her anger out, she reflected on the good and bad it could and would do her. She'd mostly decided not to try and change that part of herself too much.

Meanwhile, Chris was training too.

"I'm so close," Chris said, pulling his hands into the air, his mind distracted by the picture on the bedside table for a moment. He continued the task, lifting the weight above him and slowly bringing his arms back.

"What are you doing?" Lady Vampir asked, making her way into the room as he was concluding, resting the bar weight on his chest. "Where you talking to yourself again?"

"No, I was talking to that picture," Chris said.

Lady looked at the picture for a moment, two similar looking children doing a science experiment in the backyard.

"Was this you and Ant as children," she asked picking up the picture. Chris tried to move, but noticed the weight stuck on his chest, him not strong enough to lift it up again.

Lady walked through the halls and to the kitchen were Veramax and Steljax were arm wrestling.

"Hey Stel, here's a picture of Scotsdale and Veramax as children," she said. He walked over to see it, the two of them laughing.

Veramax backed away slowly, opening up a secret compartment, one of his many hidden around the base. He pulled out his blue machine gun, one of his favorites, and started shooting the picture out of their hands.

"I don't like to be made fun of," he said, before teleporting away.

Steljax and Lady Vampir continued to laugh.

* * *

"Hey," Zach said as he passed Zara, Kari and Rosette in the halls.

"Hi Zack," Rosette said.

"I hope you're having a great day," he said, reaching into his backpack. "Here's half a small bag of pretzels, so you can divide that amongst yourselves. I have to go to class in a few minutes, but I once again wish you a good day."

"Are you okay?" Kari asked.

"Yeah, I'm just in a good mood. I was talking to Trishia and she's coming back next week," Zach said.

"Really?" Kari asked.

"Yeah, but only for one night," Zach said. "Oh, and Zara, are you still coming to me ballroom dancing class."

"Sure," Zara said.

"You teach ballroom dancing?" Rosette asked.

"Yeah, I thought it might be good to branch out as it were," Zach said.

* * *

"I've been thinking," Chris announced, his three associates not paying attention.

"When," he said, with a cough, as he tapped on a glass. "I would like your attention please."

They slowly turned, to see what he was talking about.

"Thank you," Chris said, setting the glass down.

"What's going on?" Veramax asked. Chris was about to speak when the alarm started ringing.

"What's going on?" Lady Vampir asked.

Chris went over to see what was causing the alarms. "it's nothing," he said. "The alarm system's broken."

"I'll call someone in to fix it," Lady Vampir said, walking over to get her phone.

"I have something to say," Chris said.

"It can wait a second," Lady Vampir said, continuing with her phone conversation.

"We need to buy groceries," Veramax said.

"What do we need?" Steljax asked. "I'll make a list."

"Can you do this later please," Chris said. "I have an announcement to make."

"I'm still on the phone," Lady V said.

"It's just I swear sometimes it's like you don't even pay attention to me," Chris said.

"They can't send someone in until next Tuesday?" Lady V said before letting out a sigh as she got up and started pacing.

"When you say next Tuesday do you mean this coming Tuesday?" Chris asked.

"The one after that," she said.

"We have guns in the sky, threaten them," he said.

"Okay," she said, sitting back down on the couch, legs in the air.

"Okay," Chris sighed. The alarm went off again.

"Aren't you going to check it?" Veramax asked.

"It's probably nothing," Chris sighed.

"But what if it isn't?" Steljax asked.

Chris went over to check. It was nothing.

"I can't put up with this for another two weeks," Chris sighed.

"I got them to move it down to one week," Lady V said.

"Well at least that's something," he said.

"So what do you have to tell us?" Veramax asked.

"I forgot," Chris sighed.

* * *

Mona was walking out of the music room, checking her phone, when Zach walked up to her.

"Hi Mona," he said, handing her a potted plant.

"Hi," she said.

"This is the plant you let me borrow a few months ago," Zach said. "I've been meaning to give it back."

* * *

Lady Vampir and Veramax paced up and down the area, navigating the space in an attempt to find some sort of inspiration.

"I mean obviously doing what we're doing isn't working," Lady Vampir said, her voice getting shakier.

"What if we use mind control, and get someone close to one of them to kill them!" Veramax said. "It'll mess with the rest of them! And then we can take them out too!"

"Wow..you are..really enthusiastic about killing these people," Lady Vampir said.

"My dream since I was five years old was world domination," Veramax said. "Because with world domination comes world peace. And with murder…comes world domination!"

"You're very passionate," Lady Vampir said.

"The passion has been building inside of my since I was a child and I was taken from this world," he sighed. "I won't let it slip through my fingers again."

* * *

Saulie sighed, feeling voices all around her, like they were going to suffocate her. And then she knew she had a mission.

She looked down at her hands, a crystal dagger materializing in them. She sighed, as she placed it in her bag and walked over to the shop. She looked through the window to Rosette there, doing paperwork. Saulie looked back down at the dagger, then at Rosette.

Lady Vampir and Veramax teleport behind her.

"Is there a problem?" Veramax asked.

"I can't kill Rosette," Saulie said.

"I thought you said you were mind controlling her," Lady Vampir said.

"It's more like, mental suggestion," Veramax said.

"Well, suggest harder," Lady V said, exasperated.

Veramax reached out to Saulie, holding her face and taking a stronger hold on their mind. Saulie walked into the shop, holding the dagger behind her back as she walked up to Rosette.

"Hi Saulie," Rosette said. "Are you okay?"

"You won't be," Saulie said, facing Rosette as she walked around her, not looking at where she was going.

"Why not?" Rosette asked.

"Because I—" Saulie started to say as she bumped into a coat rack, walking into the items and knocking it and all the items on a nearby desk over.

Rosette walked over to Saulie and started helping her pick everything up. Saulie picked up the nice, thinking this was her best shot. She looked into Rosette's eyes as she helped her pick up books from the floor.

Veramax and Lady Vampir walked back into the shop.

"I thought you were going to kill her," Veramax said.

"What's going on," Rosette asked.

"They tried, and failed, to mind control me to kill you," Saulie said.

"He tried and failed," Lady V said, walking out the door. "Don't pin this on me."

"I'd better go talk to her," Veramax said, walking out the door.

The two of them teleported away.

"So what's going on?" Rosette asked.

Veramax and Lady Vampir teleported back outside and walked into the door.

"We decided we're going to kill you two ourselves," Lady V said. Rosette summoned a set of daggers and tried to fight the two off, putting up a fight for a while. Veramax pulled out a gun and shot her, missing slightly.

"Can't you do anything right," Lady V muttered.

She shot webs out of her daggers, before pulling out her morpher and transforming, wrestling Veramax.

Veramax pulled his gun out and shot her a few more times. Rosette kept shooting him with her daggers.

Veramax dropped his guns, catching her webs in his hands and turning them into energy, creating an energy ball he shot back at her.

Veramax and Lady Vampir teleported away.

"Are you okay?" Saulie asked.

"Yeah," Rosette said, walking up to Saulie. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Saulie said. "I am now."

* * *

"Are you okay?" Veramax asked. "I'm worried you hate me now or something."

"I don't hate you," Lady V said. "I mean it could have gone smoother."

"Next time, you have to think of the idea," he said.

"Why, because it'll actually work?" she joked.


	14. Housekeeping

**'Housekeeping'**

* * *

**Authors Note:**

**I added a new drawing of some of the main characters to the tumblr sciencelane. I'm also taking requests, so if you want to see something more specific, let me know!**

**Also, check out Zach's inworld account, eagle-bird.**

* * *

"What's this?" Saulie asked, pointing to the desk.

"That's a morpher," Rosette said. "That's a regular one," Rosette added before turning to the other side of the room, gesturing towards the experimental side.

"And that's a power up morpher," Rosette said. "Stronger armor, more power enhancements, and," Rosette said as she pointed to her head. "Mental protection. So we won't get mind controlled."

Marnie walked in through the back entrance, and started working on her instruments.

"What are you working on?" Saulie asked, walking over.

"The Planet Piercer Needle," Marnie said.

"A new ranger weapon?" Rosette asked, walking up to Marnie, Saulie walking alongside her.

"Well, I'm making it for you, but it's not connected to the Morphin Grid because that would make it too powerful," Marnie said. "We wouldn't want to explode the universe."

Saulie looked to Rosette. "I could explode your universe," she said, jokingly suggestive, looking into Rosette's eyes, and winking.

"Screw you," Rosette chuckled.

Saulie winked again.

"What are you doing?" Rosette asked, still laughing.

Saulie kept winking.

"Why are you winking?" Rosette asked. "Stop winking, you are ruining winking for me."

"Do you mind taking your conversation elsewhere?" Marnie asked.

"Sorry," Rosette said, walking out of the room.

Saulie looked down at her phone. "Hey, could you give me a ride to my audition?" Saulie asked.

Rosette turned her head to Saulie, winking. Saulie followed her out.

* * *

"It's time," Chris said, moving towards the center of the room, as Steljax, Veramax and Lady V stood in anticipation. He opened the box.

"Monopoly time," he added.

"I thought we were having a strategy meeting," Veramax said.

"Do you want to have a strategy meeting?" Chris asked.

"No," he said.

"Good," Chris said.

"Why are we playing Monopoly?" Lady V asked.

"Whenever I try to do anything serious you guys roll your eyes and then go back to drinking water or whatever it is you do," Chris sighed.

"Well do you want me to stay hydrated or not?" Lady V asked.

"Yes, I guess," Chris said. "Wait, aren't you a vampire?"

"Do you want me to drink your blood?" Lady V asked.

"No," Chris said. "No, I guess not."

The four of them sat down to play.

"Everyone pick a piece," Chris said.

"I want to be the sword," Stel said.

"The sword?" Chris asked.

"One of the pieces is a sword, right?" Stel asked.

"I don't know," Chris said. "I don't think so."

"I wouldn't know," Veramax sighed. "Haven't played in 20 years."

"I am the greatest swordsman in the world," Stel said. "I can't win without one."

"Well, it pays to be versatile," Veramax reminded him.

"It won't matter, I'm going to win," Chris said. "I always win."

"I usually don't win," Lady V sighed. "But I usually don't lose either, so—"

"When you play a game of Monopoly, you win or you die, there is no middle ground," Chris said.

"I can't die, I'm a vampire," Lady V said.

"You're not a vampire in the game," Chris said.

"Why the hell not?" Lady V asked.

"Can we just get on with the game please?" Veramax asked.

"Hang on a sec, I need to get water," Lady V said.

* * *

"So just to be clear, who are we going to blame once this is all over?" Rosette asked, as she continued pushing the car up the hill.

"Well, you were the one driving," Saulie said pushing alongside her.

"Fair enough," Rosette said.

"I probably would have got the part," Saulie said. "If I'd gotten there on time."

"Yeah," Rosette said, stopping for a second. "You were relatively good," she sighed.

"What does that mean?" Saulie asked.

"I mean, you were the best actor there but the bar was set pretty low," Rosette said.

"I guess, yeah," Saulie sighed, checking to see if the car was stable. "So where do we push now?"

Rosette bent down for a moment to inspect it, falling over the hill.

"Are you okay?" Saulie asked, starting to walk down the hill to her and tripping herself. The two continued rolling, catching each other and looking into each others' eyes.

"I've got you," Saulie said, helping Rosette up.

* * *

"Hi," Zara said, sorting through files as Rosette walked into the shop.

"Hi," Rosette said.

"I think I do," she sighed, inspecting the files.

"What?" Rosette asked.

"Oh sorry, I was in the middle of a conversation with myself when you came in," Zara said.

"Okay then, I guess I'll leave you alone..then," Rosette said.

"Actually maybe you could help us, me, I meant me," Zara said.

"How?" Rosette asked.

"Shut the door first, I don't want anybody listening," Zara said.

"Are you okay?" Rosette asked, shutting the door.

"I kind of miss my relationship with Mark," Zara said.

"After what he did to you?" Rosette asked.

"You have no idea how good our relationship was before this whole saving the world thing got in the way," Zara said.

—

2 months earlier…

Zara was standing by her locker, looking at her phone.

Mark walked by her.

"Uh…hey Marcus," she said.

"Sup," he said, walking away.

"Real smooth," Zara sighed.

—

"I still don't like him, or being in a relationship, and I don't want to be in a relationship with him, It's just the memories, of the one we had, it's not all bad," she sighed.

"I know how you feel," Rosette said. "I think..I might."

"I think I'll be fine," Zara sighed.

"Actually, do you have any advice?" Rosette asked.

"About what?" Zara asked.

"What went wrong in your relationship, exactly?" Rosette asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Zara asked.

"I've been thinking about asking Saulie out on a date," Rosette said. "I don't want to mess up."

"Well how's your relationship with her right now?" Zara asked.

"Good," Rosette said. "We're pretty good friends."

—

2 days earlier…

Rosette was standing by her locker, looking at her phone when Saulie walked past her.

"Hi," Saulie said, walking past her.

"Uh…hey… Saulie," Rosette said as Saulie walked away.

"Real smooth," Rosette sighed.

—

"Well, you're not Mark," Zara said. "You're not going to emotionally manipulate Saulie."

"Okay then," Rosette said, standing up. "And another thing," she said, sitting down. "What went right in your relationship?"

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Zara said. "The high points of a relationship depend on the people. As long as you don't hurt each other, which you won't, you'll be fine."


	15. Like Minds

**Like Minds**

Veramax and Lady V looked through Chris's notes, thinking. "I think we should go after this Zara chick," Lady V said.

"Zara Wallach," Veramax sighed, looking at her file. "What's her story?"

"I dunno," Lady V said. "But she doesn't seem like she has a lot of upper body strength."

"I guess," Veramax said. "She looks kind of emo."

"Let's go," Lady V said.

"Can we get something to eat first?" Veramax asked.

"Fine," she said, walking towards the door. "You can pick."

"I picked last time," he said, as he followed her out the door.

"Wait," she said. "I should probably get a coat." She walked back into the base.

She went to her closet to get her coat, bumping into Chris on her way to the door.

"Going out with my brother again?" he asked.

"At least we're actually accomplishing something," she said, stepping out the door.

"It's so cold outside right now," Veramax asked.

"Yeah," Lady V sighed.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask, what's the situation with global warming?" he asked.

"Oh, it's like, horrible, or something," she said.

"We should probably do something about that," Veramax said.

"Yeah probably," Lady V sighed.

"You know, there's a lot of stuff we need to take about for once we're done," he added.

"Do you want to hold off on doing anything else until then?" she asked.

"It'd probably be for the best."

* * *

"Are you still dating Vacha?" Kari asked Zach.

"No," Zach said. "I mean, he was kind of nice. Well, he got annoying after a while. And, it was like, every time he talked, he just kept talking for the next fifteen minutes, and you just had to sit and wait to get a word in, and, oh my gosh, is that what it's like when I talk?" Zach asked.

"Yes and no," Zara said.

The three of them continued walking down the street.

Zara stopped for a moment, Kari stopping with her.

"How do you feel?" Zara asked.

"Weird," Kari asked.

"You thought you'd resolved it internally but the thoughts are coming back," Zara said. "You got hurt, so you wanted someone else to be hurt, and you want to bring it up again so you can be forgiven, at least by someone, but at the same time you want to move on past it all forever."

"How did you know?" Kari asked.

"I was talking to myself," Zara said.

"Oh," Kari said.

"You're forgiven," Zara said.

"You too," Kari said.

Zara sighed.

"You know," Kari said. "There are actual people out their whose forgiveness means something. Yet it feels better coming from you and I didn't even have to hurt you to get there."

"Nobody should hurt the people they love," Zara said.

"Who said anything about love?" Kari asked.

Rosette walked up to them.

"How are you?" she asked.

"Like evil shadows are hanging over me like old coats, and fingering my small intestine," Kari said.

"Well that isn't pleasant," Rosette said. "Let's do something fun."

"Zach!" Zara called out. "The four of us are going to go do something!"

"Like what?" Zach asked, shouting to them from the other side of the road.

"Don't know yet!" Zara said.

* * *

"I got community service," Chris said. "I'm litter picking tomorrow."

"Why?" Lady V asked.

"That doesn't matter," Chris said. "What's important is that I'll be with a group of other people. People who also commented minor offenses, united by a common punishment."

"Wait, is this about the attacks?" Veramax asked.

"No, if they caught me for that they'd give me a punishment that matters," Chris said. "But look, with these other people, I can spread the word. I can recruit followers."

"I don't want more people here," Lady V said. "Especially more human people. You're the only human person I tolerate."

"What about my brother?" Chris sighed.

"I had my humanity stripped from me for twenty years," Veramax sighed. "Like a cool person."

"And I gave up my humanity," Stel said. "The sword is my soul now."

"And your sword a soul as well," Lady V said. "A decent one at least, but nevertheless, it's part of you. I can put up with it, but the three of you have combined have enough human in you that adding anymore to this force will compromise not only it but me myself."

"Well then how are we going to take over the world?" Chris asked.

"Well do we have to?" Stel asked. "I mean, we're doing okay."

"I want the world to be at least as okay as we are now," Chris said.

"But it's a world of humans," Lady V said. "They don't deserve relative comfort."

"Maybe I should fire you and round them up then," Chris said.

**—**

**Later**

**—**

Lady V and Veramax walked up to Chris, who was sitting at the steps, glancing at his hands.

"Nobody wanted to join me," he sighed.

"Hey," Lady V said. "We just want you to know, your opinions are valid. Even if it might not seem like it."

"Why wouldn't it seem like it?" Chris asked.

"Because all of your opinions suck," Veramax said.

"What he said," Lady V said.

"But we love you for it," Veramax said. "And the world will too."

* * *

The rangers received and alert, a troop of Gel-Bats were attacking in the park. They morphed and ran over, pulling out their guns to cut through the Gel-Bats, saving the passers by.

"That wasn't a lot," Kari noted.

"Maybe it means something," Zara said.

"Maybe they're planning something," Rosette said. "Now, come on, the day is still young, let's have fun."

* * *

Zara was leading the rest of the team as they did yoga exercises.

"How are things going with Saulie?" Kari asked Rosette.

"Okay," Rosette said. "She might have plans, but if she doesn't we have a date on friday."

Kari stretched, pulling something in her arm. "I think I need to lie down," she said, going to her bag and taking out a bottle of vitamin water, taking a sip before sitting down under a tree.

"Let's take a break," Rosette said.

A group of Gel-Bats came out from behind the Gel-Bats. The rangers morphed discreetly before beginning to take care of them.

"They're a bit tougher than usual," Zara said.

"Let's use the power up," Zack said. They activated the power up, the Mega Voltage Mode. They felt a surge of power, their suits gaining strength. They cleared through them.

"Hey, do you want to play basketball?" Zach asked, turning towards his teammates. Rosette and Kari walked up to him, Zara sitting against a tree.

"What are you doing?" Kari asked.

"Writing a letter to the school about Mark, trying to get him kicked out," Zara said. "I've been putting it off for the longest time."

She sighed as she continued writing. "Play without me."

"Okay," Zach said. "Me against you two."

The three of them started, Zara continuing to write her letter.


	16. Sword and Sensibility

**Sword and Sensibility**

Zara, Kari and Rosette were sitting in Zara's living room.

"What are you working on?" Zara asked, as she saw Kari working on a computer.

"There's a TVF fundraiser tonight," Kari said. "I'm working on the layout of the space."

"Why wasn't I invited?" Zara asked.

"I assumed you'd be busy," Kari said.

"Yeah, but I still want to help," Zara asked. "Can I donate, or something."

"How much money do you have?" Kari asked.

"Good point," Zara said. "I'll just come, I can cancel my plans."

"Can I come too?" Rosette asked.

"Sure," Kari said.

Zach walked in.

"Okay guys, I'm thinking about getting a new haircut," Zach said. "I just feel like there's a lot of change that's been happening recently, and I feel like my hair needs to reflect that."

"Why?" Zara asked.

"I just don't want to keep the hair I have," Zach said. "I mean, why not?"

They got a message about a monster attack.

The rangers marched into the battle, cutting through a field of invading Gel-Bats commanded by Steljax.

The four of them kept shooting at the foot soldiers, and him. Rosette summoned her daggers, shooting webs from them.

"You'll…never…compromise…me," Steljax said.

The rangers took out the surrounding Gel-Bats. Stel swung his sword, slicing Kari's arm, de-morphing her, before he teleported away.

A group of bystanders started watching, observing the defeat that had just taken place.

Kari remorphed before anyone could see her face, and then the rangers retreated.

"Why do you think he left?" Zach asked, as they kept walking.

"Maybe he thought he won the fight," Kari said, clothing her arm.

"But why wouldn't he take us out for good?" Rosette asked.

"That was what we could call a public failure," Kari said. "If we're lucky, it won't blow out of proportion We're not lucky people. It might blow out of proportion."

"What do we do?" Rosette asked.

"Make sure we're careful about how we spin the story," Kari said.

"It wasn't a big deal, he just cut your arm," Zara said. "What matters right now is that you're okay."

"I am okay," Kari said. "But they don't know that. We need to make a public appearance, do some PR. PR as in public relations, not power rangers. And I need to make sure people in real life don't know my arm is injured, people can't see the correlation. Hopefully I can give the impression to people that my arm as a power ranger isn't hurt, but we need to air on the side of caution."

* * *

Chris and Lady V watched the battle from the river, seeing the events replayed in the water, with such clarity it could seem like they were right up to where it was taking place.

Steljax emerged from the pool after teleporting away from the fight.

"Was that what I thought it was?" Chris asked. "Did we hurt someone?"

"Yeah, was that bad?" Stel asked.

"Well, I mean, I'm not sure I'm into the idea, especially since the 'highly qualified strike team' sent against us is a group of teenage girls, but they are the highly qualified strike team, and they were sent by the government to stop us from starting our revolution, so all in all it a very good thing," Chris said. "High five."

Stel high-fived Chris and Lady V, and then the two of them high-fived each other.

"I'll call my brothers to tell them about this," Chris said.

* * *

The four of them were sitting back at Zara's house, Kari bandaging her arm.

"Maybe I should just wear a jacket," she said.

"The weather's getting warmer though," Zach said.

"I don't think people will be that suspicious if they see someone in a jacket," Kari said.

"You wanted to be cautious," Rosette said.

"Within reason," Zara said. "We shouldn't get too paranoid about this, Kari's probably going to heal pretty soon."

"You know, our new suits would be able to withstand it," Zach said.

"What are you saying?" Zara asked.

"Maybe we should be powered up all the time," Zach said.

"Oh, and the fundraiser is today too," Kari sighed.

"Do you want to delay?" Zach asked.

"No way," Kari said. "We're doing this."

* * *

Rosette left to go on her date with Saulie.

"Sorry I'm late," she said, meeting Saulie outside her house.

"I heard about Kari, is she going to be okay?" Saulie asked.

"She's going to be fine," Rosette said, holding her hand as the two kept waking. "It was a minor injury, we're just afraid the people who saw are going to get nervous."

"I don't think I could ever do your job," Saulie said. "I'd probably quit."

"Zara and Kari quit, at first," Rosette said.

"But you didn't?" she asked.

"I was too afraid to quit," she said. "They were too afraid to keep going."

* * *

Zach walked from Zara's house to his house five feet away, his mothers, Christie and Anna, siting on the sofa, sorting through mail.

"I'm going to Kari's fundraiser later," he said.

"Fundraiser?" Christie asked.

"Yeah," he said. "For her charity. A bunch of people donated money, actually, so that's cool."

"Can we make a donation?" Anna asked.

"Sure," Zach said.

* * *

"We're all on the same page now, we just kind of love it. When we don't get hurt. And even then. I'm probably not explaining it very well," Rosette said.

"I think I get it," Saulie said, sitting down on one of the steps by the house. "But besides that, how's your life going."

"Pretty good," Rosette said, sitting down next to her. "I'm working on a new set of songs."

"Can I hear them?" Saulie said.

"I don't really have anything right now," Rosette sighed. "Writer's block."

"When I get writers block, I usually try to read more," Saulie said. "Sometimes it helps to sit and force myself to write, but other times I just sort of try to be active, and let it come to me."

"I'm going to Kari's fundraiser thing later," Rosette said.

"Oh, can I come with?" Saulie asked.

"Sure," Rosette said.

* * *

**A New Moon Is On The Rise**

Thank you for reading this chapter! Also, as always, if you have questions or comments, you can send them to my account here or to my tumblr account. I also want to have more drawings up, so look out for that! In terms of my writing, I really want to be honest to the characters and how they progress. I think it makes sense to show the ways rangerdom factors into the lives of the characters which I think the show does so well. At it's best, power rangers is a show about a diverse group people trying to be good people and make good choices, and I really want to reflect that.

Also, I'm planning on introducing another ranger to the team, **Ranger Number 5!** I'm still accepting requests at this point, so please submit a character if you want to!

Here's the form:

**First Name:**

**Age:**

**Birthday:**

**Appearance:**

**Ranger Color**

**Zord:**

**Personality: **

**Skills/Hobbies: **

**Family: **

**Extra Info:**


	17. Team

**Team**

"How's your plan to get Mark expelled going," Saulie asked Zara as they walked down the hallway at school.

"Not well, considering he's still here," she sighed. "I'm not even sure they looked at my letter."

"Have you talked to him at all?" Saulie asked.

"No," she sighed. "And I saw him picking on someone else earlier today. I don't know if he was trying to hit on her or just trying to make her suffer but I get sick thinking about it either way."

"Do you know who is was?" Saulie asked.

"I don't know her name," Zara said. "I know she had red hair, and she was wearing glasses."

Zara saw the girl walking down the hallway and followed her. Zara looked at the girl; she was shorter and thinner than she was.

"Hi, I'm Zara, are you okay?" Zara asked.

She didn't respond.

"Don't worry about that guy, I dated him, I know what a jerk he is," Zara said.

The girl kept walking. Zara followed her.

"I saw him picking on you, and my advice would be to stay as far away from him as possible, which…isn't much now that I think about it but I'm looking to change that," Zara said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you say something?" the girl asked, removing one of her headphones and tilting her head to the side. "Sometimes I space out when I'm listening to music."

"I was just saying don't worry about…that guy," Zara said.

"Oh, okay, thank you, I guess," she said, before putting her headphone back in. She looked down at her phone, then up at Zara. "I'm Eliza, by the way," she said loudly. She walked away.

* * *

"I've noticed I can make other things invisible too," Zach said as he turned to Marnie as she was entering the shop. He turned around, turning the table behind him visible again.

"You create a force field around anything you turn invisible," Marnie explained. "You can control the field around yourself better, that's why you can hold it for longer."

"Hasn't been that useful so far," Zach sighed.

"It will be," Marnie said before going back to work.

* * *

Kari was walking home from tennis practice, when a group of Gel-Bats surrounded her, accompanied by a group of actual bats.

She pulled out her phone as she flipped out of their way, calling Rosette, Zach and Zara before starting to work through them. She looked up and down, counting the number, and recounting, as she continued stepping out of the way, fighting on the fringes and beginning to work through them quicker.

Zara, Rosette and Zach arrived, shooting at the Gel-Bats, who quickly knocked their guns out of the way, the bats flying in their faces but otherwise not a problem. They cleared through the Gel-Bats and de-morphed.

"So what do we do with the bats?" Zara asked.

* * *

Rosette and Kari were talking in Rosette's room, Kari sorting through her bag as Rosette stared blankly at her computer screen.

"I really just want to keep working on these songs," Rosette sighed.

"You really need to finish that history assignment," Kari said.

"I know, I will," Rosette sighed. "You want to stay and talk while I do?" she asked.

"Sorry, I can't stay," Kari said. "I've got a date."

"Oh, nice," Rosette said. "Good luck."

Kari got up and walked out the door.

* * *

Kari and Jevon sat, eating a pizza, leaning against a small fountain in the park.

"What time is it now?" Jevon asked.

"Almost five," Kari said, as she filled out the personality test. "Would you describe yourself as easy going?"

"Uh, yeah," Jevon said. "Why are we doing this?"

"So we can see what TV characters we're most like," Kari said.

"Hey guys," Tyler said as he sat dow next to the two of them.

"How's it going?" Jevon asked as he turned to Tyler.

"Did you hear the news about Spider-Man?" Tyler asked.

"What's happening now?" Jevon asked.

Kari glanced at her phone, just across her and on the fountain. Tyler handed it to her.

She looked at it, seeing she was getting told about an attack.

Kari ran over to the other side of the park, as the fight was already in progress, the four of them struggling against the Gel-Bats.

The four of them morphed, powering up, before continuing to take the Gel-Bats head on.

The rangers noticed how many they'd taken out, only one left. The one remaining went after Zach, him trying to block it with his gun. The Gel-Bat bit into his suit, Zach de-morphing. He shook the Gel-Bat off, shooting it.

"That's what you get," Zara said.

* * *

Veramax walked through the base entrance. He looked at the wall, paying closer attention than usual. He scanned the entire place with his eyes, sighing distastefully. He made his way to Lady V's room, stopping for a second to look at his reflection in the mirror by her door. He fixed his hair, or tried to, at least, before entering.

"I noticed you've been working harder lately," Veramax said as he approached Lady Vampir.

"I really just kind of want this thing to be over," she sighed.

"Really?" Veramax asked.

"And you don't?" Lady V asked. "You just want to keep trying forever."

"I just…I mean yeah, I want us to accomplish our goals, but I'm actually kind of enjoying the four of us…working together," he said.

"The four of us?" Lady V asked,

"Yeah, the team," Veramax said. "I haven't known the team for long, but I love the team's work ethic. And I love the way the team operates."

"Yeah, it's a good team," Lady V said. "I love how passionate it is about things, and how far it's come, or, at least, trying to come."

"And I love the team's dress sense, and the way the team teases my brother," Veramax said as he leant closer to her. "And I want to stay with the team as long as possible."

"Hopefully, y— — the team, will still be here," Lady V said, turning her head to him.

"Hopefully," Veramax said, kissing her.


	18. Hamilton

**Hamilton**

Zara, Rosette, Kari and Zach were headed to school.

"I haven't seen you around that much," Zara said to Zach.

"Well, uh, I've been working on my impressions," Zach said. "You know how it gets."

"You do impressions?" Kari asked, turning to him.

"I had a free afternoon," Zach said. "I was working on my Gollum, and that evolved into me watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy again."

"Did you watch the extended additions?" Zara asked.

"Yeah," Zach said.

"How good of an impressionist are you?" Rosette asked.

"I think I'm pretty good," Zach said. "I'm thinking about moving to the next level."

"Which is?" Kari asked.

"Ventriloquism," Zach said.

Eliza stared at them. She made a step forward, towards them, before titling her head slightly. She started biting her nails as they walked further away.

"I don't think I'd be able to watch an entire trilogy of films in one go," she heard Kari say.

Eliza put on her headphones and walked away in the other direction.

* * *

Zara walked out of History Class, going to her locker to check her phone, and seeing Eliza walking down the hall. Zara walked up to Rosette.

"Have you met Eliza?" she asked her.

"No," Rosette said.

"I'm gonna talk to her," Zara said.

Eliza made her way to one of the outdoor lunch tables, a wooden table close to falling over. She sat down and pulled out her Trigonometry homework out of her binder, starting to work on it.

Zara walked up to Eliza, sitting down across from her and looking her in the eye.

"Hey…hey," Zara said.

"Hey," Eliza said, looking up at her. "Hi."

Zara sighed, her eyes scanning Eliza, her red hair, her yellow blouse, her expression.

"So…where are you from?" Zara asked.

"I'm fairly local," Eliza said. "I've been around."

* * *

Rosette stumbled into class moments before the teacher, making her way to her desk, panting. Kari turned to Rosette. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just out of breath," Rosette whispered. "I just had to cross country, which is on the other side of school, and then I had to run here."

"I thought you didn't like cross country," Kari said.

"I have to have a sport to get my PE grade up, and cross country is the only one that's bearable," Rosette said. "But I looked at my schedule and I always have creative writing after cross country."

"You know, if your secret identities were public that could probably be a PE credit," Kari said. "You know, it's physical. And we're saving all their lives."

"I wish," Rosette sighed.

Ms. Sorenson walked to the whiteboard and wrote the word 'Important.'

"A lot of writers find the advice they're given doesn't apply to them," Ms. Sorenson said. "It's important to remember that while there are rules to writing, a lot of it is very individual, and a lot of time there are no wrong or right ways to go about the process."

She started walking around the room, continuing to talk about her process and personal experiences, Kari writing notes down.

"One piece of advice I think everyone should take to mind," she said. "Don't default to male when writing characters. I see a lot of writers of all genders do this, especially with minor characters, and it, it's something you should look out for."

Thirty five minutes later, the bell rang and class ended. Kari looked down at her notebook. She checked and saw she had six full pages of notes, which was about her average. She got up, walking out of class with Rosette.

"Do you have plans for tonight?" Rosette asked.

"Jevon, Tyler and I are seeing that new documentary," Kari said. "How about you?"

"Well, Saulie and I are going to a comedy club opening," Rosette said, bumping into Eliza.

"Oh, sorry," Rosette said.

"Sorry," Eliza said.

"It's okay," Rosette said.

Eliza walked away to go to her locker. Rosette and Kari stopped at the water fountain.

* * *

Eliza made her way home, her father not home yet. There were small pieces of broken glass on the floor, in a sort of trail, leading to her fathers' office, which was usually off limits. The door, usually closed, was opened.

Eliza stood there for a few moments, before marching into the room and checking all the furniture. Everything was intact, although a new items, a glass case with a trinket inside, lay there. The trinket, it resembled a small, yellow, bejeweled smartphone, glowed. Eliza's eyes glowed alongside.

Eliza sighed, turning away, but the trinket flew out of the case and onto her hand. She read the words on the side - Yellow Ranger Morpher.

"It's bonded to me," Eliza sighed, her mind being filled with the information behind it's creation, how it programmed to bond with a good person, how none of its creators really fit that description.

She went through the details in her mind. Her father was the CEO of an electronics company. She didn't know exactly what went on there, but she'd assumed it wasn't this. She considered her father a good person, although with his heart condition probably not ranger material. In a way it all made sense.

* * *

_Author's Note,_

_I'm excited about what I have planned next. I'm still setting up this story arc, but I like where it's gone so far!_

_I've also added an extra scene to this chapter, the show where the development of Veramax and Lady Vampir's relationship has led. I wanted to give more insight into the characters, like I did in the past few chapters, and their relationship just sort of came about. I think I brought it to a close in the last chapter and I won't focus on it as much._

_I'm interested to see what you think about that._

_Now, without further ado, here we go..._

* * *

"How did you meet Chris?" Veramax asked as he and Lady V walked down the street.

"At a conference two years ago," Lady V said. "Steljax already knew him from a raid in Russia a few years earlier, so he introduced us. I didn't really know him that well until I started working with him, though."

"What do you think's going to happen now?" Veramax asked. "Once this all ends."

"I'm starting to think that good will win no matter what and we'd just be better quitting and eloping," Lady V sighed.

"Really?" Veramax asked.

Lady V burst out laughing. "No," she said. "We're awesome. We're totally gonna win this." Veramax started laughing with her.

"I've heard…I've heard a lot about other non-people trying to take over Earth in the past years," Veramax said.

"Don't worry, we're the exception to the rule," she said, taking Veramax by the arm.


	19. Army Feet

**Army Feet**

Kari yawned, her eyes close to open. She slowly started getting up, feeling her pillow against her face. She noticed her breathing getting harder. One of her pillows was below her, the other above her, as if being pushed onto her face.

She tried to get free of it, feeling another figure out to get her, attacking her. She sighed, getting her face free. She looked up to see a Gel-Bat. The Gel-Bat was there, hanging over her. She looked across from her, another Gel-Bat entering through her window. She gasped. She did a flip kick, knocking down one of the Gel-Bats. The rest started falling into her window, getting ready to strike.

She went through them, fighting them off. She ran over to her morpher on the other side of the room, morphing. She took out a gun, shooting down all the remaining Gel-Bats, gel getting everywhere on her aquamarine floor and silver wallpaper.

* * *

Zach looked down at his almost full cup of black coffee, then at his watch on his other hands. He was almost a minute early to class. He dropped his coffee in the trash, dropping his hands to the side. He kept looking down, his focus now on his feet.

He looked up and took hold of the knob, turning it. He opened the door to see a face, the face of a bear. He stepped in further, as if to check he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. The bear growled, running up at him to attack him. Zach took hold of the bear, using minimal force to bring it down to the ground.

"Did Chris send you," he asked softly as if the bear could hear him.

"Shhh," he said to her. "It's okay."

Mr. Nelson walked up to the classroom to see the fight taking place. A few more students happened upon the classroom, some to go to the class, some passing by. Mona seeing the situation, walked over to and pulled the fire alarm, and also pulled out her phone.

"It's going to be okay," Zach whispered to the bear. "It's okay."

Mona started dialing the number. "Hello, I'd like to call about a bear in a classroom. Huh? Oh yeah, I can give you the address."

* * *

Rosette and Saulie smiled together as they approached the diner, a Gel-Bat lurking behind them. Rosette turned to kick it, the Gel-Bat producing a knife that came out of it's hand and slicing her. Rosette kicked it again. The Gel-Bat backed away, shooting the knife at Saulie's foot, grazing it. Rosette punched the Gel-Bat, eliminating it for good.

Saulie held onto her knee, eyeing Rosetta everything she looked at it.

"I think I have band-aid," Rosetta said.

"That's okay," Saulie sighed.

Rosette started digging through her bag, Saulie's eyes widening.

Rosette found a band aid in her purse buried amidst tissues and ironically purchased CD's.

"Here you go love," Rosette said, handing the band aid to Saulie.

Saulie sighed, picking it up and moving it up to her.

"Is it large enough?" she wondered.

"Should be," Rosette said.

* * *

The rangers received an alert that there was an attack in the park and arrived on the scene to see a squad of Gel-Bats gather, starting to cut through them. More kept being generated, closing in on them. A fifth ranger appeared, in yellow, flying up and shooting a the Gel-Bats with a cannon, taking some of them out. The Gel-Bats scrambled to regroup their formation to enclose this fifth ranger.

She continued to cut through them, the other four rangers helping her.

"Wait a minute," Zach said as the battle continued. "One..two.. ..there's a fifth ranger!"

He punched out one of the Gel-Bats, but it got up. He kept hitting it, Zara and Kari helped him, but it didn't go down.

"This one's harder to take down than the other ones," he said.

"It's a slightly different color and shape too," Kari said. "It's even more advanced."

Zara activated her invisibility, trying and failing to defeat it using the element of surprise.

Zach clapped, trying to summon his invisibility field around the monster instead of himself, to try and squeeze the life out of it. It didn't take.

The Gel-Bat attacked him and he pounced on it.

"Why won't you go down?" he screamed as he punched it and it eventually exploded.

Rosette took out the remaining Gel-Bats as the yellow ranger ran away.

"Let's follow after them," Rosette said. Rosette and Zara ran after her.

Eliza demorphed, behind a tree staring at her morpher. Zara walked towards her, demorphing.

"It's okay," she said. "Join our team."

"I don't think you want me," Eliza said. "I'm gonna try and get this thing removed."

"Why?" Zara asked.

"Why should I be ranger?" Eliza asked. "Can't I just give it to someone else?"

"I've been watching you, and you're great, you're gonna rock this," Zara said. "We could use someone with your spirit."

"I'll see what I can do," Eliza said, walking away.

* * *

**Authors Notes**

Someone asked me a question last time so I want to address it here:  
Eliza is an OC. She wasn't in the show, someone submitted her to me to be in my story. I got a lot of responses, some from users via reviews, some via private messages, some by other means.

I'm really excited to write about Eliza. I hope you're excited to read about her! And the other rangers of course!


	20. Plugging In

**Plugging In  
**

Zara walked along the street, seeing Eliza across the street, at the gas station. She looked at the fruit basket in her hands, the one she'd gathered to give to her later.

"Hi," Zara said. "I got you a gift basket," she said, holding up. "It's mostly fruit."

"Is this to get me on the team?" Eliza asked.

"It's to let you know you're welcome," Zara said. "Zach and Kari picked most of these out, and Rosette let me borrow the basket. Uh, you'll have to give it back to her when you're done with it."

"Zach, Rosette and Kari, those are the other members of the team?" Eliza asked.

"Yeah," Zara said.

Eliza looked at the fruit basket. "Okay," she said. "I'll see you at school, so I guess we'll talk then."

"Yeah, cool," Zara said.

* * *

The Next Day - School

* * *

Zach walked up to Kari and Rosette, handing a stack of purple notebooks to Kari.

"Those are your notebooks, right?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, those are my physics ones, where were they?" she asked.

"On a lunch table," Zach said. "Are all those really for physics?"

"Yeah," Kari said, sorting through them. "I guess I take a lot of notes."

"What class are you coming from?" Zach asked.

"I had track," Rosette said. "And then I had to run to Creative Writing. On the other side of the school."

"Not a great class to end the day on," Zach said. "You have Ms. Coata, right?"

"No, Ms. Sorenson," Kari said.

"Oh good for you," Zach said.

"What's wrong with Ms. Coata?" Rosette asked.

"She despises teaching," Zach said. "That or she just doesn't care, but either way, I learnt nothing from her. Maybe it was just me though."

"I wonder what Eliza's like," Rosette said.

"I guess we're going to find out soon enough," Kari said, looking at her watch.

. . .

"Hey Zara," Eliza said, walking up to Zara at her locker.

"Hey, I've been looking for you all day," Zara said. "The four of us were about to leave, just have, like, a team meeting, do you want to join us?"

"Well, I have a guitar lesson later, I guess I could go with you until then," Eliza said.

"Okay then, great," Zara sighed. "So, you're officially a part of the team?"

"I guess," Eliza said.

"Perfect," Zara said.

The four of them made their way to Kari's aunt and uncle's house. Kari led them to her room, where they sat down.

"Do you think we should talk strategy?" Kari asked.

"Let's let Eliza introduce herself first," Rosette said.

"Hi," Eliza said, tensing up.

"So, Eliza, where did you go to school before this?" Zach asked.

"WMH," she said.

"That's close, right?" Kari asked.

"Yeah," Eliza said. "Only twenty minutes away walking, or ten by the bus."

"So, twenty minutes," Kari said.

"Basically," Eliza said, chuckling.

"So, like, do you still see your old friends?" Rosette asked.

"I don't have any friends," Eliza said. "So…strategy. What's our strategy."

"Well, reacting, right now," Kari said.

"Things are a bit tense, you could say," Zach said.

"Zach fought a bear," Rosette said.

"I didn't fight the bear," Zach said. "The bear was angry, it was sent to attack us, I calmed it down."

"I think I can handle this," Eliza sighed. "I think."

"We'll ease you into it," Zara said.

"And we'll introduce you to Mr. Reed and Ms. Atwell, they'll start your training," Zach said, placing his hand on her shoulder, and, shaking, removing it.

"Do you have any fight training already, you were pretty good in the fight," Kari said.

"Um, a bit, yeah," Eliza said.

"Cool," Kari said. "Cool."

"Oh, Rosette, I have your basket at my house, should I hand it to you tomorrow or—"

"You can keep it," Rosette said.

"Oh, okay," Eliza said.

"Oh I like your necklace by the way," Kari said, leaning in to see it closer.

"Oh, thanks," Eliza said.

* * *

The Next Day...

The five of them were walking in the park when the saw a pack of Gel-Bats approaching them.

"Come on guys, we've faced the worst of it, we can face this," Zach said. He pat Eliza on the shoulder, and then ran to the end of the line they were getting into.

The five of them stood in formation and then jumped out and started tackling the Gel-Bats. Slowly but surely they worked through the crowd. The rangers were left with only five Gel-Bats, as they got back in line, pulling out their guns, and shooting the one in front of them.

"Yay," Eliza said.

"You did great," Rosette said, walking up to Eliza and hugging her.

Zara walked up to the where the Gel-Bats were. "It was easier than usual," Zara said.

"Well there's five of us now," Kari said.

"Maybe that's it," Zara said. "The Gel-Bats were adapting to us, to fighting our team, and now, it's not just we have more power now, they're not used to dealing with more than four people. But they'll adapt eventually."

"At least we have some time before they catch up," Kari said.

"Let's train," Zach sighed, breathing heavily.

* * *

"I think we should be trying more advanced stuff," Rosette said as she sat down on the training mat, bobbing her head back on forth.

"Yeah, but, like, we're not doing a performance, we're saving the world, we just need to stick to what's simple and what works," Kari said, as she leaned against the wall, slowly sliding.

Zach, Eliza and Zara walked in, Eliza listening to music through her headphones.

"What are we talking about?" Zara asked.

"Rosette was thinking it would be 'fun' and 'cool' if we attempted more advanced 'moves' in our fighting," Kari sighed, using air quotes.

"Not just that," Rosette said. "If we're more flexible and more synchronized we'll be better fighters."

"True," Zach said.

Rosette stood up and walked towards Kari. "I mean, cutting through a crowd of Gel-Bats with basic moves works when there's not a lot of them, but if we're going against armies of Gel-Bats that adjust to our moves, we need to be more effective, more unpredictable, and more gutsy."

Rosette smiled at Kari, extending her hand to her. Kari took her hand and got up, smiling back.

"Let's get started," Zara said. Eliza removed her headphones and joined the rest of the team as they gathered on the mat.

"I think I should lead the practice today," Rosette said. "I'm the only one here with a background in gymnastics."

"Okay," Kari said. The rest of them nodded.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**And there you have it! I hope you liked the chapter. As always, please comment, follow, tell me what you want to see!**

**Also, the tumblr accounts are inactive right now, but I might bring them back at some point!**


	21. Staying In

**Staying In**

"Charging to protect a future!"

Kari morphed and put on the goggles. The hologram of her opponent came at her with his sword, as she deflected his attacks with her sword. They continued for a few minutes, and Kari continued to hold her ground against the attacker as he continued to level up. He struck at her again, locking her over, and against a wall, knocking the goggles off her face.

"Are you okay?" Zach asked, as he turned away from what he was doing, and to her.

"Yeah," I guess, she said as he helped her up. "I want to be prepared to go after Steljax the next time we see him, so I can take my revenge."

"Revenge?" Zach asked, picking up the ball.

He threw it to her. "Maybe I've blown it up too much in my head," Kari said. "Do you think I should be focused on revenge?"

She threw it to him. "I believe in you," Zach said. "If this is important to you, then go for it."

He threw it to her. "What are you up to?" she asked.

She threw it to him. "I've been working on my invisibility powers," Zach said.

He threw it to her. "How's that going?" Kari asked.

She threw it to him. "Well, remember when I tried to extend my field to that Gel-Bat to destroy it?"

"Uck, yeah, I think," she said.

"I've been working on it," Zach said. "I was studying the material the Gel-Bats are made of, and it looks like it's this super advanced material that's hard to control. But—I've been working with other things, and I think I have a handle on it. And I've been writing up ways it could help in a fight."

"Do you have anything?" Kari asked.

"Not too many, so far," he sighed.

"Well I can think of a few," she said. Kari looked at the piece of paper he started writing on.

Reed walked down the stairs and to the basement.

"I'm checking out of the night, Zach, you said you needed to talk to me earlier," he said.

"Yeah," Zach sighed. "Can I use the shop for a few hours? The place I normally teach my self-defense classes isn't available, and I don't know what else to go."

"Where would you be working?" Reed asked.

"Well, there's two classes, so I was thinking one upstairs, one here," Zach said.

"And you're going to teach both of those classes?" Reed asked.

"I have an assistant," Zach said.

"Okay, I guess," Reed said. "You'd have to close off my office, and the lab, we can't have anyone messing with anything."

"Absolutely, I'll make sure it's locked up," Zach said.

"Actually, can I use the lab?" Kari said. "Just for a bit. There are some things I want to look at."

"I'm not the person to ask," Reed said.

"Right," Kari said, walking up to stairs to the lab, where Marnie was closing up.

"Hey," Kari said. "Can I use the lab?"

"Umm..uh…yes," Marnie said. "If you break anything or mess anything up, you will…I'm going to…just take of care of things, please."

"I promise," Kari said.

Kari went back to the basement to continue her conversation with Zach. Afterwards, the two began to set up for the class, Zach's assistant Tron showing up about three minutes later.

"Hi," Tron said.

"Hey," Zach said.

"Where will we be working?" Tron asked.

"Here and in the basement," Zach said. "I was thinking I'd take this floor."

"Okay. We still have some time. Where's the bathroom?" Tron asked.

"Upstairs," Zach said. "Remember to knock, upstairs isn't ours."

"Kay," Tron said, walking upstairs.

"What's his name?" Kari asked, turning to Zach.

"Tron," Zach said.

"Like the movie?" Kari asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Zach said.

"Why is his name Tron?" Kari asked.

"I don't know, I wasn't at the meeting," Zach said.

Eliza walked through the door.

"Hey," Zach said.

"Hi Eliza," Kari said.

"What are you doing here?" Zach asked.

"I just thought I'd stop by, I was in the neighborhood," Eliza said.

"I'm about the teach a self-defense class if you want in," Zach said. "It could be good practice."

"Maybe next time," Eliza said, walking up to them. "I just want to sit down," she added, with a sigh.

"I was gonna sort through things in the lab, I can show you a few things," Kari said.

"Sure," Eliza sighed.

The two walked through the door. Eliza sat down in one of the spinning chairs. Kari got up on one of tables, to reach a shelf.

"Careful," Eliza said.

"I'll be fine," Kari said, as she took a tray, and stepped down.

"How tall are you?" Eliza asked.

"Well, I don't know exactly," Kari sighed. "What about you?"

"Like five foot three," Eliza said.

"I think I'm around that," Kari said.

"So what's on the tray?" Eliza asked.

Kari pulled a sheet off the tay to reveal a set of small grey cubes.

"These are small range explosives," Kari said, placing one on her hand. It started to glow slightly. "Aren't they beautiful?"

"I guess," Eliza said.

"There's a lot of other cool stuff too, like the zords, did you get a zord yet?" Kari asked.

"Reed told me my zord was the tiger zord," Eliza said.

"Oh, nice," Kari said.

Zach walked into the lab an our later after the classes finished.

"Hi," Eliza saizd.

"Hi Eliza," Zach said.

Zach sat down in one of the spinning chairs.

"Gosh…there's so much technology here, so much…science, that went into making it, you know" Kari said. "It's amazing."

"Yeah," Eliza said.

Tron opened the door. "Uh, bye Zach. Bye…you guys."

"Bye Tron," Zach said. Eliza waved at him. Tron closed the door and walked away.

"I think he's kind of cute," Kari said.

"Yeah," Zach sighed.

Kari turned to Zach. "Are you two—"

"No, he's got a boyfriend," Zach sighed.

"Oh, Eliza, do you want to see the zords?" Kari asked.

"Sure," Eliza said.

Kari led Eliza away.

Zach picked up his phone and called Zara. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," Zara said. "What's up."

"Well I was practicing with the invisibility power and I had some ideas for how to use it," Zach said. "I thought we could go over them."

"Do you want to talk now or later?" Zara asked.

"Well, I'm headed home, maybe you should meet me there," Zach said.

"Kay," Zara said.


	22. Don't Go Astray

**Don't Go Astray**

The rangers were walking out of the shop when they saw people beginning to panic, running in one direction screaming. They ran in the other direction to see a monster, a knight in white armor, with the eyes of a snake and metal blades for hands. The monster pointed at them.

"You're exactly who I'm looking for," she said.

"You're going down," Zach said. The five of them morphed, charging at the monster, shooting at her with their guns. The monster swung her blade at them. Zara shot the blade off.

Kari pulled out her sword and attacked her, the monster blocking Kari's attacks with her other blade. Kari kept attacking knocking the monster back and further away from the others. Eliza charged at the monster, who swung back, demorphing her.

Kari got the monster in a hold, Rosette walking up with her gun drawn. Kari stepped away and Rosette fired, the blast destroying the monster.

The rangers left the scene; Rosette met Saulie at the diner.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Saulie asked.

"Probably training," Rosette said.

"It seems like you're training more lately," Saulie said.

"Do you mind?" Rosette asked.

Saulie though for a moment and then shrugged. "Nah, I understand it, its just a shame that we're both busy all the time."

"We could do something right when I get off training," Rosette suggested.

"Okay," Saulie said, nodding.

"Or, better yet, you could come to my training session," Rosette suggested.

"I'm not sure about that," Saulie said. "I'm not sure…exercise…is for me."

"How often do you exercise?" Rosette asked.

"I..did…a push up, a successful push up, a few months ago," Saulie said. "So I'm good for at least a year."

"You think so?" Rosette asked.

"Well, like, I'm not a ranger," Saulie said.

"So?" Rosette asked.

"Would you exercise if the world wasn't in danger and you didn't have to fight?" Saulie asked.

"Probably not," Rosette said. "No, but, like, I'm just saying that the world is in danger, so like, if there's an attack, and I can't save you, you, uh, might want to save yourself, which would be easier the fitter you are."

"Well I feel like if I have to save myself it's your fault for not saving me as ranger," Saulie said.

Rosette chuckled. "I guess."

"So now we know who to blame," Saulie said, chuckling.

Rosette and Saulie talked for a few more minutes, Saulie leaving to go for an audition. Rosette started walking the other way, bumping into her mother, Malia.

"So, what's the story with her?" Malia asked as she watched Saulie walk away.

"There's no story really, we just like each other," Rosette said.

"You keep saying you'll introduce me," Malia said.

"When I get around to it, I mean, I'm busy."

"Doing what?" she asked.

"If it were up to me, I would spend my time getting to know you better, and spending more time with Saulie, but I have responsibilities," Rosette sighed.

"To who?" Malia asked,

"Can't say," Rosette sighed.

The rangers were alerted of the presence of another attack. They ran into the city square, to see a larger version of the monster they'd faced earlier.

"We need the zords," Kari sighed.

Zach, Zara, Kari and Rosette formed the Spirit Driver Megazord.

Eliza summoned the Tiger Battlezord. The Spirit Driver Megazord activated Spirit in the Sky, blasting the monster. It was knocked over, but got up. Eliza sent to Tiger Battlezord to tackle the monster.

"You can't stop me," the monster sighed.

Kari pressed a button in the cockpit, summoning a sword for the Spirit Driver Megazord. She controlled its movements as it went to duel against the monster, taking it out and causing an explosion. The Megazord and Battlezord high-fived.

The zords went away, the rangers stepping out and demorphing. Eliza saw something in the distance, another monster, and went to chase after it.

"Rangers," Reed said, messaging the other four through their morphers. "Report to the base to debrief."

"Eliza just ran off," Zach said.

"Zara, Rosette, go get her, Zach and I will report back," Kari said.

"Kay," Zara said.

Zara and Rosette ran up to Eliza.

Eliza ran into the forest, where she found the monster she saw, Lady V.

"You're Lady V, right?" Eliza asked. "I was told about all you people."

"I'm Lady Vampir, queen of nightmares," she sighed. "I don't know what game you're playing at, but you might as well quit now."

Eliza summoned her gun, and pulled out two of the explosives from her pocket. She ran up to Lady V, kicking her and jumping up, shooting at her, the blast propelling her further away. Lady V threw needles at Eliza, who blocked them with explosives, the explosion knocking Lady V down.

Eliza landed on the ground, as Zara and Rosette caught up with her.

"Lady V, meet Lady Z," Eliza said, shooting again.

"You're going down," Zara said.

"Not yet," Lady V said. "Not today."

Lady V teleported away.

"You shouldn't run off without warning," Zara said.

"I'm sorry, I saw her and I just, I went for it," Eliza sighed.

"It's okay," Rosette said. "Just, you know, communicate."

The three of them walked back to the shop and met up with the others. After the debriefing, Zara and Rosette walked back to the diner. They ordered two cups of coffee, and got a table. Rosette got a text.

"Who is it?" Zara asked.

"My mom," Rosette sighed. "She wants to meet me here."

"What did you say?" Zara asked.

"I say yes," Rosette said. "You haven't met her, right?"

"No," Zara said. "I actually have to go soon, so I'll leave you to it."

"If you must," Rosette sighed.

Zara walked out, Malia joining Rosette a few minutes later.

"Do you want me to get you something?" Rosette asked.

"Tea, please," Malia said.

"Okay," Rosette sighed, going to order tea for her and coming back having gotten in it.

Saulie walked up to Rosette and Malia's table. "Uh…hi," she said, standing near them.

"Hey," Rosette said, smiling for a moment before turning to her mother. "Um, this is—"

"Saulie," Malia said.

"Yeah," Rosette sighed.

"Nice to meet you," Malia added.

"Yeah," Saulie sighed. "You too."

"Come on, sit down," Rosette said, smiling. She moved a seat over and Saulie sat in the now vacant one, across Malia.

"Hi," Saulie said.

"I thought you had improv class," Rosette said softly, turning to Saulie.

"It was cancelled," Saulie sighed. "So, uh, hi," she added, turning to Malia.

"Hi," Malia said.


	23. Constants

**Constants**

Eliza checked the time on her phone. There was still an hour until school started, and the gates would open a few minutes later. Looking behind her, she saw two seniors, tall, imposing guys, standing against a wall a few feet away, talking about how horrible their exes were.

Eliza kept staring at her phone, intently, though doing nothing.

The gates opened moments, minutes, later and she stepped through. She walked through the hall and set up in the classroom she'd be in first period, completing hr homework from the night before. She talked to the janitor for a few minutes, and then to one of the other students. She wasn't in the class, but she was stopping by the classroom because she had no place better to be.

Most of the students hadn't arrived yet. Eliza always tried to get to school early. Being early meant it was easier to avoid crowds people at the gates, as she explained to the people she talked to.

"I mean, I like people," she said. "I just don't want to overdose."

Zara entered the classroom and sat down next to Eliza. More and more people entered slowly until the classroom was full, with all thirty-one students present.  
Eliza and Zara talked for about half an hour, until the class started, and they listened to their teacher, Ms. Coata, for about five minutes, before they started talking again, albeit more quietly. The class went on for an hour and then they all left.

Zara was walking down the hallway.

"Hi," Zach said.

"Walk with me," Zara sighed.

The two of them walked to Zara's locker.

"So, what's on your mind these days?" Zara asked.

"You know, stuff," Zach sighed.

A few guys walked past the two in the hallway, one bumping into Zara and knocking her in her locker.

"Are you okay?" Zach asked.

"Uh, yeah," Zara said.

Zach looked at the clock.

"How long do you think it takes to write a history essay?" Zach asked.

"How long do you have?" Zara asked.

"An hour," Zach said.

"A hour," Zara said.

"Right," Zach said, walking back, away from her.

* * *

The rangers were alerted to a Gel-Bat attack in a cornfield, and arrived to see them there, on of the holding what looked like a shovel, the other a drill.

"Not this," Zara said, kicking one before stepping back to join the others. "Not again."

The Gel-Bats surrounded the rangers.

Zach and Zara activated their invisibility. Rosette and Kari pulled out their guns.

Kari ran up to the one with the shovel, taking control of the moisture inside and freezing it up. "This could take a while," she said. She kicked the Gel-Bat down as she continued to freeze it.

Zara pulled out her gun and started shooting while invisible. Eliza jumped onto Zach's shoulders and then up, floating in the air, throwing knives down at the Gel-Bats, before coming down to help Kari with the frozen one, as it began to perk up.

Zach used his force field to take hold of the drill and applied pressure to it until it exploded.

Another group of Gel-Bats appeared. Rosette summoned her web daggers and got to work, tossing one of the daggers to Zara.

Kari linked arms with Zach and Eliza and the three of them charged into the crowd of Gel-Bats, eliminating them.

"There's a Gel-Bat escaping," Eliza said. "And I think there's someone with it."

Zara, still invisible, charged at the two, shooting at them, one of whom she identified as Veramax. Eliza came up behind her, shooting at the Gel-Bat and destroying it.

Veramax teleported away.

"Good job guys," Rosette sighed.

* * *

The Next Day

* * *

Eliza made her way to the shop. Her favorite thing about it was how it smelt, a bit like the open ocean. Eliza assumed it was because of one of the technologies, perhaps the Morphing Grid itself, although she couldn't be certain. She pulled out a set of knives and started target practice. She pulled out an aiming board and threw the first knife.

It missed the board.

"The air in here is probably all wrong," she decided, moving the board, the set and herself down to the basement, where Zach was sitting, drinking water and browsing the internet with his computer.

"Hi," Zach said.

"I was upstairs but the air was all wrong," Eliza sighed.

"Well, if we're going into fights you can't count on the air being right," Zach said. "Remember, we have to be adaptable."

"Right," Eliza sighed. She continued practicing on the board. To her dismay, the air was worse in the basement, and it didn't quite have the same ocean feel, but she decided she didn't want to move again.

Kari made her way down the stairs, sitting down right next to Zach and leaning to him.

"I was talking to Reed," she said.

"Huh?" Zach asked, looking up at her, staring into her eyes.

"From a certain light, he looks kind of attractive, don't you think?" Kari asked.

"Yeah, I can definitely see it," Zach said.

Zach continued scrolling through the webpage. "What do you think - ?" Zach asked, turning his screen to Kari, "of this," he said, displaying the image of the sword.

"That's a katana, I'm not sure I know how to fight with a katana," Kari sighed.

"How old is Reed?" Eliza asked as she picked the knives up from the board.

"He's, like, in this thirties, I think," Zach said.

"Do you guys want to go bowling?" Eliza asked.

"Yeah, I love bowling," Zach said.

"I've won contests, I've won a Regional trophy, three years in a row," Eliza said.

"Wow, really?" Kari asked. "In bowling?"

"Yeah," Eliza said. "There are actually a lot of really competitive, tight-knit bowling communities, it gets wild."

"How good are you?" Zach asked.

"Pretty good," Eliza said. "I was looking for things to fill my time since my band broke up and bowling was a perfect fit."

"You were in a band?" Kari asked.

"It was nice while it lasted," Eliza said. "But you know how it is, with people."

"Yeah, I guess I do," Kari said.

* * *

Rosette met up with Malia, and the two began walking down the street. I was cold, but not too cold, and it was snowing, but the snow wasn't sticking to the ground.

"Do you have any plans for your future?" Malia asked."Because it's okay if you don't."

"I don't know yet," Rosette sighed. "My grades aren't that good, so that doesn't help."

"It's not the worst thing though," Malia reminded her. "Just because you get low grades, doesn't mean your future is ruined."

"I guess," Rosette said.

"What about Saulie, how are her grades?" Malia asked.

"A bit better than mine, I guess," Rosette sighed. "She doesn't know what she wants to do either."

"I didn't know where my life was headed when I was your age," Malia sighed.

"What are you doing now?" Rosette asked.

"I got a job a shipping company," Malia sighed. "It's based out of..out of state, and, well, there's a bit of travel, too."

"Oh," Rosette said. "Huh."

"I'm going to see you whenever I can," Malia added. "Just keep in mind that that probably won't be every day."

"I understand," Rosette said.

"In…in addition to my, uh, day job, I'm taking night classes, finishing my teaching degree," she said. "I think…I think it'll do me good."

"Yeah, that's…that's cool," Rosette said.

"I think..the more I can focus on that..the better it'll be in the long run," Malia said. "And then I could get a teaching job, maybe something closer to you. I just need to focus, I guess."

"I could help you," Rosette said.

"I should be helping you get where you need to go," Malia said. "We should..we should help each other."

* * *

The Next Day

* * *

Zach and Kari walked up to Eliza, who was sat by a table in the shop, looking over a computer.

"What are you working on?" Kari asked, leaning in closer.

"It's a…it's a more advanced scanner, Dr. Atwell and I were working on it late last night," Eliza said.

"Were you here all night?" Zach asked.

"Oh, uh, no, I left around eight or nine," Eliza said.

Zach and Kari looked at each other. Kari sat down by the computer, next to Eliza.

"So what does it do?" Kari asked.

"It basically works the same, just a bit…just a bit faster," Eliza said. "And it covers a wider area, but, but, um, you said they mostly work locally, right?"

"Yeah," Zach said, sitting on Eliza's other side. "I mean, the attacks are mostly physical, but there are also rumors that they're working with politicians."

"You know, trying to influence them, use their power," Kari said. "But in the long run, I think they want to, like, get ride of," she made a sweeping gesture with her hands, "all this."

"They want to destroy society as we know it," Zach said.

"Right," Kari said.

"Isn't that kind of a good thing?" Eliza asked.

"Well, the way they're going about it, it's endangering people's lives, it's inconveniencing people, and we haven't heard them make a statement about it but it's probably just going to be them in charge," Kari said.

"And like, they tried to put, like, this psychic poison in the Earth, so they could press a button at any moment to kill someone if they wanted to," Zach said.

"Oh my gosh, I forgot about that one," Kari said. "Yeah, that too."

"So is the scanner done?" Zach asked.

"Yeah, mostly," Eliza said. "It might need a few more moments to calibrate."

"Cool," Zach sighed. He and Kari got up and walked away.

Eliza sat by the scanner for a few more moments, getting a cloth to clean the screen, noticing dust beginning to gather on the sides. She pulled out her phone, to check to see if she had any missed messages.

Suddenly, the alarm started going off.

"Okay," Eliza said, as she went to check where the attack was. The scanner was still calibrating, but energy signatures mostly resembling those of the Gel-Bats were being registered.

"Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na Eliza," Eliza muttered.

She sat down in her chair as the scanner finally started to work. The energy signatures were definitely present. "Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na Eliza," she muttered.

She turned to the TV, turning it on and trying to flip to a news channel to see if they had any information.

The scanner screen picked up the location - The Ice Rink.

Eliza ran to the scene of the battle, joined by Zach and Kari and then Rosette and Zara a small while later.

The five of them morphed and activated the power up, and then activated the power up function that gave them ice skates. The went onto the skating rink, holding onto the other skaters and getting them to safety.

Seeing they were the only ones in their with the Gel-Bats, who Zach recognized as the Advanced Gel-Bats they'd fought one of earlier, they got to work. Rosette, Zach and Zara pulled out their guns, shooting at the Gel-Bats.

Eliza summoned another pair of ice skates, and started throwing them at the Gel-Bats.

Kari pulled out her sword leapt in the battle.

One by one, the Gel-Bats fell down.

"Link together!" Kari said. She held onto Rosette's hand on one side, and Eliza's on the other. Rosette held Zara's hand and Eliza held Zach's hand. The five of them swung around, Zach and Zara shooting their guns with their free hands, and all the Gel-Bats started falling down and exploding. The five of them let go, Zach taking hold of the last Gel-Bat and skating with it, throwing it in a pile with other dead ones, who then exploded.

The five of them all high fived each other, then exited the rink, de-morphing once outside.

"Anyone for food?" Zach asked.

"We could go to the diner," Kari suggested.

"Fair Dance?" Eliza asked.

"That's the one," Kari said as she started walking. The others started following her.


	24. The Revenge

**The Revenge**

**Author's Note: A revenge quest comes to an end! New dynamics spring! All this and more...right now!**

The rangers were walking down the street, just leaving an afternoon training. It was early evening. Zach yawned as he checked his watch. The five of them received an alert - there was an attack.

They ran into the middle of the street to see Steljax standing there, holding up his sword, four Gel-Bats hanging around him, growling.

Kari pulled out her morpher and summoned her sword.

"Ranger, this ends today," Steljax sighed.

"I agree," Kari said. They two leapt at each other, swords drawn, and began to duel.

"Should we help?" Eliza asked. Kari turned to her for a second and nodded.

The four started to run up to the fight, as four small explosions came and knocked them to the ground. The Gel-Bats walked up tot them and began to crowd them. Steljax created another explosion, knocking Kari to the ground and knocking her sword out of he hand.

Zara got up and pulled out her morpher, the other rangers following suit.

"Charging to protect a future!"

Kari charged at Steljax, picking up her sword from the ground. Steljax leapt into the air, Kari following him. The two began tumbling through the air, landing on a hill. Kari kicked Steljax, and then swung at him. He blocked her attack with his sword. He swung at her and she dodged by an inch.

Kari went at him again, aiming for his wrist. He shot lasers from his eyes at her hands, and she dropped the sword for a moment; she picked it up the other way, aiming at his head with the hilt.

Meanwhile, the four other rangers followed after the two combatants, only to find a now larger group of Gel-Bats following them. They turned around to face them.

The battle between Stel and Kari continued as the two of them moved closer to the edge of the hill.

"The last time we fought—" Kari sighed.

"I won," Steljax said.

"You left," Kari said, swinging her sword at him.

"I had nothing left to see," he said, blocking her.

"Why didn't you finish me—us—off," Kari sighed.

"I didn't think you were worth it," Steljax sighed. He struck her, and she was knocked down. She held on tightly to the sword, charging at him, and hitting him in the back, the moment he began to turn away.

Steljax removed the sword from his body, and then continued going at Kari with his own sword. Kari picked up her sword, and turned it around, hitting Steljax's hand with the cross-guard and knocking the sword out of his hand. She swung at the sword a few more times, then at Steljax's arms and head a few times, then pulled out her gun and shot the sword. It exploded.

"Consider this revenge," Kari said. "And also, consider it a statement. You're not going to win," she added, as she struck Steljax's right arm, his sword arm, again.

"Today, I accept defeat," Steljax said, holding onto his arm.

"And tomorrow?" Kari asked, setting her own weapons down.

Steljax teleported away.

The other rangers, defeating the Gel-Bats, made their way to Kari, who stood atop the hill.

"What happened?" Zach asked.

"I think I won," Kari said.

Zach hugged Kari. The five rangers demorphed.

Steljax made his way back to the base, where Chris, Lady V and Veramax had been observing.

"Is it just me, or did you just lose a sword fight?" Lady V asked.

"I thought you were the best ever," Veramax said.

"So, are you gonna get back on that horse?" Lady V asked.

"I can find better ways to occupy my time," Steljax said. "If you need me, I'll be in my room," he said, walking away.

"Are you going back to origami?" Lady V asked.

"Just don't right now," Steljax sighed, slamming his door.

"Do you think he's upset?" Veramax asked.

"Maybe we should talk to him, make sure he's okay," Chris said.

"You guys can do whatever you want," Lady V said, going back to filing her nails. "I've dealt with his problems for long enough."

The rangers gathered at Zara's house. Rosette was making vegan omelets.

"I mean, maybe, since we beat him they'll realize that they're not going to win, and they'll just give up," Zach said.

"I'm not so sure," Rosette said, as she turned on the stove. "I'm starting to think these guys just like fighting. Like, they've forgotten everything they stand for and they just like fighting—"

"—and sending bears at people, and throwing them into space, and mind controlling them to kill each other," Zara said.

"Maybe we could appeal them," Zach said. "Convince them there's another way."

"I don't really know that much about them," Eliza said, turning to Zach. "But they don't seem like reasonable people."

"No, they're not," Zach said. "I just think we need to be optimistic."

"True," Rosette said, searching through the fridge for eggs.

Zach sighed, shaking slightly. "I just think I need to keep saying to myself…and to…and to everyone else, it's going to be okay," Zach said, holding Eliza's hand.

Eliza walked into the other room to see Kari.

"Are you okay?" Eliza asked.

"The cut on my arm - - it started bleeding again," Kari sighed pulled open the cabinets. "It's been getting worse since the fight, I guess I over-exerted myself."

"How big is the cut..what…what do you need?" Eliza asked.

"I think I'll be fine, don't worry about it," Kari said.

"What happened?" Eliza asked.

"Well, my arm has always kind of been…out of place..I don't know how to explain it," Kari said. "But, anyways, the last time I fought Steljax, he beat me, and I cut this cut on my arm, and it had mostly healed, and it's probably going to be fine..well, probably go back to the way it was."

"Are you sure you don't need anything?" Eliza asked.

"Can you get me some ice?" Kari asked.

"Sure," Eliza said, walking out of the room.

Kari looked in the mirror, and began to tear up. Eliza walked back into the room with an ice pack and handed it to Kari.

"How does it feel?" Eliza asked.


	25. Everybody Wants The Right

Everybody Wants The Right

Rosette closed her eyes and went further down, until her entire body was fully submerged in water. She swam up to her teammates, the eight of them huddled together at the other side of the pool. It took a moment, as she made her way over. She lifted her head, a smile growing on her face with no sign of stopping.

"So, what are we doing for practice today?" she asked.

"We're going to do a warmup, then some training exercises, then discuss the events of last year," the team captain, London, said.

"We don't want to make the same mistakes!" Vacha said enthusiastically. "Give me a sec though, I've got to check something!" he said, stepping out of the pool.

"Let's wait for him," London said.

Zach Calvin made his way through the door, standing by the wall. Rosette saw him from the other side of the room, stepping out of the water and running to him, hugging him.

"Hi," Zach said.

"What are you doing here?" Rosette asked, smiling. "Are you joining the swim team?"

"Sorry, no," Zach said. "I was in the next building over, teaching a class, it just ended, I thought I'd stop by, say hi."

"Well, if you ever want to change your mind," Rosette sighed, gesturing to the pool, "You can."

"Totally," Zach said.

"I have to get back to practice, but let's meet up and talk in like an hour, okay," Rosette said.

"Okay," Zach said.

Rosette turned and dived into the pool.

Zach walked away, turning back for a second. He saw Vacha standing by the pool, and Vacha saw him. The two waved at each other. Zach made a cell phone hand gesture, mouthing 'bro, call me.'

Zach went over to Fair Dance, waiting a few minutes for a table. He sat there for a few more minutes. Viola met him there.

"Hi," he signed to her.

"Hi," she signed. "I might be going to school here next year."

"Really?" Zach signed.

Viola sighed. "Yeah, I don't know though," she signed. "I probably shouldn't talk about it though, we really don't know anything. "

Rosette walked in, making her way to their table.

"Hi," she said energetically.

…

Zara walked down the school hallway, seeing London sitting down on the ground, holding a book, tearing up.

"Are you okay?" she asked, sitting down next to her.

"I'm fine...it's just...it's really hard losing your house and your job on the same day," she sighed.

Zara hugged her. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, no, I didn't...this, this, uh, this character in a book did," London said.

"Oh," Zara said. London turned the cover to her.

"Oh, I've read that book," Zara said. "What chapter are you on?"

"Chapter One," London said.

"It might seem good now, but it gets way better," Zara said. "Call me when you finish it, I really want to talk about it with someone."

Zara walked away. "Okay," London said.

Zara stepped out of the main school building, staring intently at her phone as she walked over to the field, seeing the cross country team practicing. She sat on a bench.

Iska sighed as she approached the bench, retrieving her bag from under it, and sitting down next to it.

"Hi," Iska sighed.

"Hi," Zara said, not moving her eyes.

"Do your self a favor, and don't join the team," Iska sighed."

"Why'd you join?" Zara asked.

"I thought it'd be 'adventure,' " Iska said.

"Back on the field!" Mr. Waters said through the megaphone.

"Sorry, got to go," Iska said.

"I'll still be here," Zara said. Iska walked back onto the field.

"Four more laps for every tear you shed!" Mr. Water shouted.

…

"Are you eating cereal for dinner?" Saulie asked as she made her way into Rosette's room.

"Well, yes and no," Rosette said. "I had dinner three hours ago, this is technically tomorrow's breakfast. I started eating breakfast in at night."

"Why?" Saulie asked.

"Well, breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I don't have a lot of time in the mornings," Rosette said.

"Why are we watching this?" Saulie asked, walking up to Rosette who was sitting on the floor in front of her TV, rewinding the video of Kari's fight with Steljax.

"Well, I like her technique, you know, I think I can learn from it," Rosette sighed.

"Why don't you call her and learn from her in person?" Saulie asked.

"She's probably busy," Rosette said.

…

"You know, I've always wanted to try laser tag," Kari sighed, as she pressed her elbows down on the kitchen counter.

"I told you, I don't want to do anything," Eliza said.

"I'm not saying we should," Kari responded. "I'm just making conversation."

"Maybe we should, though," Eliza said. "It is kind of fun."

"Maybe some other time. I'll take your word on it for now," Kari said. "Do you have anything to eat here?"

"There are some grapes in the fridge," Eliza said. ""You know, if you want to do something, I could teach you how to play guitar."

"Nah," Kari said. Just as she did, she heard her phone ring.

…

The Gel-Bats went down the street, one of them pulling out a scanner. They stayed close together, hugging the walls and moving at a slow pace.

On the other side of the street, Tron was standing, starring down at the text messages on his phone. He started whistling to himself as he crossed the street. The Gel-Bats walked up to him. He didn't looked up until one of them had their hand on his shoulder. He turned around and grabbed the hand. The Gel-Bats all came at him at once.

He bolted, running away into the warehouse, tripping over and falling down a set of metal stairs. As he reached the ground, he heard a sound and felt a hand reaching for him. And then a body holding him, keeping him safe. And then a face he could thank. It was Zach's face.

The Gel-Bats descended to their level, and Zach kicked them down before throwing them in the wooden boxes all over the dusty ground.

"How did you do that," Tron asked, slowly getting up and walking to Zach.

"I've been working out," Zach said. "You know me, bro."

"You're like my own personal superhero," Tron sighed.


	26. Every Cloud

**Every Cloud**

Author's Note: I hope you enjoy the chapter! Iska, who's in this chapter and the last one, was submitted in my last contest, as was London, who was in the last one.

* * *

Zara and Kari were walking down the hallway at the end of the school day, bumping into Iska.

"Hi," Iska said. "Can you sign this paper, I need signatures to see if anyone's interested in starting a video game club," Iska said.

Kari and Zara looked at each other, eyes widening, and then looked back to Iska.

"Sure," Kari said, softly. She signed, as did Zara, shaking.

The two of them made their way outside where they joined Zach and Eliza..

"Hi," Zach said.

"Hi," Eliza said.

"I was just talking to Eliza about our future here," Zach said.

Kari and Eliza linked arms with Zach. "It's kind of unsettling," he said. "The thought that they're going to keep attacking us for who knows how long."

"Yeah," Eliza said, resting her head on Zach's shoulder.

"I think that no matter what the five of us are bound to each other," Zach said.

"Hey-o," Rosette said, walking up to the four of them, carrying a box of donuts. "What are we talking about?"

"The future," Zara said.

"Does anyone want a donut?" she asked.

"Sure," Eliza said, taking one.

The five of them walked down the street when they noticed an attack.

The Rangers marched into the battle. Upfront was a crowd of advanced Gel-Bats, and behind them were three more advanced Gel-Bats, wearing battle armor.

The Rangers morphed, summoning their guns and shooting them. They Gel-Bats pulled out her their own guns and shot them. The Rangers cleared through the Gel-Bats until only the back three remained. They shot Zara before running away and teleporting.

"Are you okay?" Eliza asked.

"I can't feel my legs," Zara said.

Rosette held onto Zara. The two demorphed, Kari, Zach and Eliza doing the same thereafter.

"We'll carry you," Rosette said. The four of them held onto Zara and carried her back to the shop.

"Are you feeling better now?" Kari asked.

"Yeah, better, thanks," Zara said. " I can walk now."

She let go of them and stepped forward. She continued walking, and then collapsed on a chair.

"I think I'll rest for a bit," she said.

Kari stepped into the office to see Reed and Marnie.

"What's your plan here as mentors?" Kari asked.

"I'm not a mentor, he is," Marnie said.

"I'm training you to be skilled fighters, and you'll eventually wear down the attacking forces," Reed said.

"But that's not practical," Kari said. "How many more people have to get hurt before we change our tactics."

"Did someone get hurt?" Marnie asked.

"Zara," Kari said, deadpan.

"I should probably check on her," Reed said.

"Yeah, you probably should," Kari said.

"Make no mistake, I'm very concerned for all of you," Reed said, placing his hand on Kari's shoulder, before exiting the office.

Kari left the building, sitting down on a park bench by the cave. She pulled a book out of her bag. Reed walked up to her.

"I don't want you to feel unheard," Reed said.

"I don't just feel unheard," Kari said. "I feel like the world is in danger."

He sat down next to her and sighed. "The world is in danger."

"So?" Kari asked.

Reed sighed. "You know, even the best ranger teams felt like their efforts were hopeless at times, like they wouldn't accomplish anything. But they tried their hardest and then they didn't just save the world, they changed it for the better."

"Is every team like that?" Kari asked.

"All the teams have been good in their own ways," Reed said. "You have nothing to worry about. That's a lie. You have a reason to worry. But you also have a reason to have hope. And to fight, as long as you want to."

Reed left to do paperwork. Kari went back to reading her book.

"Is this seat taken?" Rosette asked, coming up behind her. She removed her sunglasses, sitting down next to Kari.

"What were you talking about?" Rosette asked.

"Our future as rangers," Kari said.

"You were awesome in the sword fight, by the way," Rosette said. "That's something you don't have to worry about, being awesome, in fighting and in general."

"I know," Kari said.

"So why are you worried?" Rosette asked.

"In case that's not enough," Kari said. Rosette side hugged Kari.

"We're going to make it through this," Rosette said.

"I think right now I just want to be alone," Kari said.

"Cool!" Rosette said, letting go and walking away.

"For the record, you're awesome too," Kari said to Rosette. Rosette stopped for a second, turning her face around.

"Thank you," she said, smiling. Rosette walked back up to Kari, and the two high-fived. Kari went back to her book.


	27. Ditches and Demons

**Ditches and Demons**

Author's Note: Thank you for all your reviews and notes so far! I hope you like the chapter!

* * *

The sun shone through the trees, the path they had mapped out looking nicer than they thought. Rosette glanced down at the map, leading the other four to the cave.

"Nature is beautiful," Eliza sighed.

Zara looked down at her phone, going over the information she'd gathered.

"How far are we?" Zach asked.

"About eight miles," Rosette said.

"Let's do this," Zara sighed. Kari nodded, holding onto her sword in it's case.

* * *

_End of School Day, hours earlier..._

_Zara and London were sitting at the tables outside of the school. Zara looked through her backpack, finding the book she was looking for._

_"Here you go," Zara said, handing it over to London. "That's the third book in the series."_

_"Cool," London said. She checked the time on her phone. "I've got to go to rehearsal in a few minutes."_

_"Rehearse?" Zara asked._

_"Oh, right, my cousin's putting on a play," London said. "I'll get you tickets."_

_Iska walked up to the two of them_

_"Did you hear the news?" Iska asked. "Fever Demon Se7en 2 Part 3 is getting released early."_

_"Oh," London said. "That's cool."_

_"Did you know it was based on a true story, and it took place at our school?" Iska asked. "Well, the first game anyways."_

_"I think I heard about that," London said. "Apparently, someone found a demon here and drove it into a cave. I thought it was just a rumor."_

_"I hope not, that's awesome," Iska said. "I wonder what'd happen when you meet a demon."_

_"Death," London said._

_Zara got up and walked away._

_She went and met with the other four rangers at Kari's house. Eliza and Rosette were watching the news on TV._

_"There's coffee if you want," Rosette said._

_"No thank you," Zara sighed. "Where are Kari and Zach?" she asked._

_"Upstairs," Eliza said, making a pointing gesture._

_Kari and Zach were in Kari's room, sitting on her bed._

_"Okay, let's try this again," Kari said, pointing at the glass of water. She stood up, setting it in position. She walked back to the bed, laying next to Zach. Zach started generating the force field around the glass. Kari took hold of the water, lifting it. Zach levitated the glass, the two of them moving the glass of water together._

_"Okay," Kari said. "We've got it. Focus."_

_"We've got this," Zach said._

_The two focused, trying to bring the glass towards them; it exploded, glass going everywhere._

_"It's okay, I guess you can't in them all," Kari sighed._

_The two of them cleaned the glass up and threw it away. "Let's try again," Zach said._

_"Maybe later," Kari said, with a yawn_

_Zara knocked on the door, and Kari opened it. Zach sat up to face her._

_"Hi," Zara said, waving. "I wanted to talk to you guys about something," she added. "I'll get the others."_

_Zara walked downstairs and told Rosette and Eliza to come up. The five of them sat together on Kari's bed._

_"I was talking to Iska," Zara said. "Apparently there's a demon in the cave."_

_"Which cave?" Zach asked._

_"The one just outside the city, in the forest," Zara said. "I think we should hunt down the demon, you know, just the five of us."_

_"I'm not so sure about this," Zach said. "I mean, think about what could go wrong._

_"Let's do it!" Rosette said._

_"It'll be okay," Eliza said, holding onto Zach's shoulders._

_"I guess," he sighed._

* * *

The rangers continued along the path, and got to the entrance of the cave. On the other side of the cave, a group of Gel-Bats drove by in a truck. One of them pulled out a cannon and shot at the rangers. The five of them got knocked back, to the ground. They all pulled out their morphers.

"Ready?" Rosette asked.

"Ready," the other four said. They all morphed and chased after the truck. The Gel-Bat fired the cannon again. The blast was headed towards Zach. Eliza jumped in the way, getting demorphed. Zach and Kari went to check if Eliza was okay, each of them holding one of her hands.

Zara and Rosette pulled out their guns, shooting at the truck, and chasing after it. The one Gel-Bat jumped out, cannon in hand, as the others drove into a portal they generated and got teleported away. Rosette jumped on top of the Gel-Bat, pulling the cannon out of his hands.

Kari pulled out her gun, and she and Zara shot at the cannon, destroying it.

"That could have been trouble," Zara sighed. Kari and Eliza ran up to Zara. Eliza shot at it again, disintegrating the pieces.

The Gel-Bat generated another cannon, and blew a hole in the ground, throwing a metal stick down the hole generating an energy field. The foot soldier then turned around, shooting Kari. Zara jumped in front of the blast. The two got flung up in the air, demorphing. The Gel-Bat turned around, firing at Zach, Eliza and Rosette, and sending them in them flying in opposite direction. The Gel-Bat teleported away.

Zara and Kari fell down, tumbling into the hole in the ground, Zara clinging to Kari as they did.

"It's going be okay," she said to Kari. "It's going to be okay."

"We need to get back up," Kari sighed, trying to get up, feeling her head ache. "I think I hit my head."

Rosette, Zach and Eliza demorphed and ran up to the hole in the ground. Eliza held her hand out at Zara and Kari; her hand was blocked by an invisible barrier.

"Must be some kind of force field, or something," Zach sighed.

"Yeah," Eliza sighed. Eliza pushed her mouth up against the force field. "Kari!" she shouted.

"I've got a better idea," Rosette said, pulling out her communicator and holding it to her ear.

"Zara!" Eliza shouted.

"Tell us what's wrong, in complete detail," Rosette said through the communicator.

Zara got out her own communicator. "We're stuck in a hole, over," she said through it. "That's, um.., that's pretty much it."

"There's a force field around the hole and we're working to get you out, over," Rosette said.

"Okay, thanks, over," Kari said.

"What if we shot at the the force field," Zach suggested.

"With our guns," Eliza added.

Rosette pulled out her gun and shot at the force field. Zach and Eliza did the same, the combined blast from the three of them accomplishing nothing. Eliza cursed silently.

Rosette pulled out her communicator, contacting Marnie.

"Zara and Kari are trapped in a hole that's sealed by a force field, over," Rosette said.

"Send me a scan of the field and I'll see what I can do," Marnie said.

"Will do, over," Rosette sighed. She began scanning.

Zara got up and looked up at the top of the hole, trying to reach it. "Looks like we're in pretty deep."

"We'll save ourselves," Kari said. "Don't worry."

"Hopefully," Zara said.

"I mean, we've gotten through worse," Kari said. "Way worse."

"So do you want to talk while we're in here?" Zara asked.

"What about?" Kari asked.

"I don't know," Zara sighed. "I'm getting an A in Spanish."

"Cool," Kari sighed.

"What do you think the demon will be like?" Zara asked.

"Evil probably, I mean, are demons anything else? I mean, probably. It might be problematic to assume all demons are evil. I'm not sure," Kari said.

"Maybe the demon won't be evil," Zara said.

"You know, there might not even be a demon," Kari sighed.

"Iska will be disappointed if that's true," Zara said. "But she'll be really happy if it's not. I love it when she's happy."

"Do you think we'll be able to take it?" Kari asked.

"Yeah," Zara said. "A demon is not match for the five of us."

"Hey, maybe we can dig to the cave from here," Kari said. "Or at least dig our way out."

"It's worth a try," Zara said, summoning a shovel. Kari did the same. The two started digging on a side of the hole.

"Wait," Kari said. "Stand back." Zara stood back.

Kari pulled out her gun and shot at the smaller hole they had now created. The blast knocked the two of them back slightly, and Kari looked up to see something, not a demon, something else.

The first thing she took note of was the scales. As she looked closely, she saw they were made of smaller scales, the lay of those scales creating patterns and pictures. They began glowing, and she felt the glow, and she knew the dragon had seen her.

The dragon rose, sliding it's body quickly and turning it's head to her. Kari fell over, onto the ground.

"I'm screaming inside," Kari whispered to Zara.

"It's going to be fine," Zara said. "Don't be scared."

"No, I mean, good screaming," Kari said. "Internally. There's a dragon in front of us, so this is the best day of my life."

The dragon looked at them.

"I'm sorry, where are my manners. Hello," she said. "Do you have a name?" she asked.

The dragon growled.

"My name's Kari," she said.

The dragon looked at her.

"Can I ask you a few questions, about being a dragon?" she asked. "I don't know what it's like to be a dragon, because I'm not a dragon, I'm a person."

Kari smiled.

"Can you help us?" Zara asked.

The dragon growled.

"I'm not sure the dragon understand us," Zara said.

"I'm not sure we understand the dragon," Kari said.

The eyes of the dragon started to glow, as did the force field.

"Look, it's glowing!" Eliza said. She nudged Zach's arm. Look, it's glowing.

"That's good," Zach said, smiling and holding onto Eliza.

"Or it could be horrible," Eliza said.

"It's good!" Kari shouted. "Thank you," she added, touching the dragons' nose.

The ground under Zara and Kari started to rise, the two of them being launched out of the hole, the force field no longer blocking them.

"The dragon saved us," Kari said.

"What?" Eliza asked.

"I've always wanted to meet a dragon," Kari said. "Ever since I was eight years old and I realized dragons were real."

Zara ran to the hole, and stuck her head down. "Thank you!" she shouted.

"What I want to know is why there are dragons down here!" Kari said. "There's probably a really cool story there!"

"Ooo, ooo, I've got it! Maybe that's the demon, maybe the dragon….is the demon" Rosette said.

"A demon dragon?" Zach asked.

"Or a normal dragon that was mistaken for a demon," Eliza suggested.

"What constitutes a normal dragon?" Zach asked.

"I don't know," Eliza said, resting her head on Zach's shoulder.

"We'll figure it out," Zach sighed, wrapping his arms around her.

"What if there are more dragons down there," Kari said, turning to face them. "We could raise them as our own."

"That would be cool," Zach said.

"We should show everyone," Zara suggested.

"That could be dangerous," Eliza said.

"Yeah," Zach sighed.

"Well, maybe just the people we trust," Zara sighed.

"Yeah," Kari sighed, a smile running onto her face as she took on last look at the dragon inside the hole. "Yeah."

The dragon purred.

* * *

The next day, Zara woke up early and went for a walk. then, she went to visit Iska. Iska was sitting in her game room, eating a sandwich. Zara knocked on the door.

"Come in," Iska said.

"Did you get Fever Demon Se7en 2 Part 4?" Zara asked.

"Part there," she corrected. "No, it sold out already," she added, with a sigh.

"I went looking for the demon," Zara said.

"What?" Iska asked, chuckling. "Do you find anything?"

"I found a dragon," Zara said.

"What?" Iska asked. "And?"

"I'm going back there again today," she said.

"You really found a dragon?" Iska asked. "A real one?"

"Yeah," Zara said, opening her hand up to Iska. "I'll prove it. Come with me. It'll be an adventure."

"Sure," Iska said, smiling as she took Zara's hand.

And with that, the two set out on their journey.


	28. The Fraud of Man

**The Fraud of Men**

Rosette picked up the phone on her bedside table, finding Eliza in her contacts and calling her.

"I'm building a motorcycle for a contest tomorrow and I need someone to do it with me, do you want in?" she asked.

"Sure," Eliza said. "Where should we meet up."

"I think you'll get an email?" Rosette said. "Keep an eye out. This seems really exciting!"

* * *

Zach was standing at the back of the line at the Beach Warlock Sandwich Shop. Zara bumped into him there, and they waited together.

"Do you want to split a sandwich?" Zara asked, turning her head to him.

"Sure," Zach said.

They waited a few minutes as the line slowly moved forward, Zara going on her phone while she waited. Zara ordered them an _Art O' Tomahto_ and they sat at the back of the shop.

"I don't understand people who actually put gum under tables," Zach said.

"Mark always does that," Zara said. "It's so annoying."

Zach took a bite out of his half of the sandwich.

"I talked to Mark last night," Zara said.

"In a bad way?" Zach asked.

"No, it went well," Zara sighed.

* * *

Rosette and Eliza made their way to the warehouse where the contest was taking place.

"I was worried you wouldn't find it okay," Rosette said as she walked up to the warehouse.

"Welcome," an assistant at the front said, adjusting his tie before opening the door. "Right this way."

"What exactly are we working on?" Eliza asked.

The assistant showed the two of them a hologram of the device he wanted them to work on - a motorcycle that also functioned as a robot.

"This sounds a bit weird," Eliza whispered to Rosette.

Rosette turned to the assistant. "Why are we doing this?"

"It's about finding and rewarding creativity," the assistant said as he walked away, cackling.

* * *

Zach turned to Zara, showing her an article on his phone.

"Chris and them, they did an interview," Zach said.

"Yeah, I read it, it's just more false promises," Zara sighed. "They're not actually going to fix things."

"They might try," Zach thought aloud.

"What if we took over the world," Zara said. "Instead of them. Then we could actually do things."

"Well, you know what they say," Zach said. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"Yeah," Zara sighed. "Like, I guess Chris didn't ask to be evil."

"At least we can stop him," Zach said. "I mean, probably."

"Definitely," Zara said.

* * *

Rosette pointed to the motorcycles on display, noticing an imprint resembling the Gel-Bats. "I think this is a con," she said to Eliza. "They might be putting people in danger."

A motorcycle moved up to the two of them, it's lights flashing. The Gel-Bat imprint started glowing.

"Let's put a stop to this before it starts," Eliza said. She pulled out her morpher and transformed, Rosette doing the same.

A group of motorcycles drove towards the two of them on their own. Their lights shone red.

"So was this a trap?" Eliza asked softly.

"I think they just wanted people to build their robots," Rosette said, as she pulled out her bow and arrows, and shot one at one of the attacking motorcycles.

Eliza looked up and saw that the other aspiring mechanics were trapped.

"We have to save them," Eliza said, shooting at the motorcycles as she ran to see them. She passed a chalk line in the ground, and was demorphed. She looked forward, noting the line had made her dimorph, and there was another barrier still between her and the captives.

She pulled out her phone and called the other rangers.

Eliza walked over to Rosette, who had taken care of the initial motorcycles.. "What do you want to do?" Rosette said, demorphing.

"I called in the others," Eliza said.

"Good," Rosette said, running to her car and then back, now holding a bow and arrow.

* * *

Kari ran over to the site of the attack, running into Zach and Zara along the way.

"This way," Zara said, pointing. The other two followed her. The three of them met up with Rosette and Eliza.

"Now remember, we don't have our powers," Eliza said.

"Let's go," Rosette said, hopping over the line, bow and arrow in hand. A group of motorcycles arrived to stop them, Rosette fighting them off with the bow and arrow and Kari using her hands.

The other three inspected the gate.

"Maybe you can still use the force field," Eliza said.

Zach and Zara joined hands, trying to activate force field. Zara touched the gate, and it shocked her hand for a second.

"What if we used the motorcycles," Rosette suggested.

Zach jumped atop one of the motorcycles and steered it into the gate, bruising it slightly.

The Rangers all got onto motorcycles, ramming at the gate until it opened. They freed all the captives.

* * *

"Those guys were working with Chris," Kari said, the other four following her as they made their way down the street. "I just called Reed and he's looking into it."

Zach and Zara walked over to the bus station. Rosette made her way to her car. She looked up at Kari and Eliza. "Do you want a ride?" she asked, not making eye contact.

"Sure," Kari said, stepping into the back. Eliza sat in the front.

Zara and Zach sat down at the middle of the bus. They were mostly on their phones, taking time every few minutes to say something to one another.

The bus ride was about an hour long. Zach felt hisself dozing off, resting his head on Zara's shoulder. Zara nudged him as they arrived at their stop; they made their way to their respective houses.

"Good night," Zach said.

"Good night," Zara said.


	29. The Room

Kari stumbled into the room, an open space with grey walls covered by grayer curtains, and fold-up chairs laid in front of a stage. She sat down in a chair. She opened her phone and looked through her messages on her phone.

Rosette walked in a few minutes later. "Hi," she said.

"Hi," Kari said. "Did, uh, did you send the message?"

"The one asking you to come here?" Rosette asked. Kari nodded.

"No," Rosette sighed. "I got one too. I mean, I assume you did, that's why you're here…right?"

Kari showed Rosette the message she got. Rosette nodded, pulling out her phone and showing Kari the message she got.

Rosette sat down next to Kari.

"Hey guys," Zach said.

**The Room**

Zach walked up to the two of them, sitting behind them in a chair horizontally in the middle of the two of them.

"Are you as confused as I am?" he asked.

"Probably," Rosette sighed, turning her head to him. "Do you think Zara and Eliza are coming?"

"It'd make sense, if we were summoned her," Zach said. "So, you guys don't know anything?'

"No," Rosette sighed, shaking her head. The heard a sound at the door.

"Probably Eliza or Zara," Kari muttered, turning to face the door.

Steljax stepped through the door, taking a deep breath. Zach, Rosette and Kari stared at him.

"What's going on?" Stel asked.

"Were you the one who sent us here?" Kari asked.

"No," Steljax sighed. "I was counting on not seeing you again." He sat down at the other end of the room. Veramax and Lady V entered a few minutes later, walking up to and sitting next to Steljax in silence.

They stared at the rangers.

"I don't like this," Kari sighed.

Eliza entered, sitting next to Rosette. "Should we morph?" Eliza asked, removing the headphone from her ears.

"No," Rosette said.

"We're not interested in hurting you right now," Lady V said.

"Yeah!" Veramax said. He turned to Lady V and Steljax, lowering his voice. "I actually wouldn't object to a fight."

"We won't win," Steljax sighed, nursing his arm.

"Maybe one of us cant take them anymore, but there are three of us now. We have a chance," Veramax said.

"Not now, my sweet," Lady V said. "We still need to figure out why we were sent here."

"So are you saying we might fight them later?" Steljax asked. "Because if we wait and then fight them, the fifth one might come."

"Emo with no upper body strength, we can take her," Lady V said.

Eliza put her headphones back in, humming Welcome to the Jungle along with the music she heard.

"What have we gotten ourselves into this time?" Zara asked, entering and sitting down next to Eliza

"We don't know," Zach said, turning to face her.

* * *

Chris entered, from the door on the stage instead of the one on the side. He stood on the stage for a moment, taking a deep breath. He walked down the be with his team.

"Is this another one of your brilliant ideas?" Lady V asked.

"No, I just got an email," Chris said. "I think I'm correct in assuming you did too."

"So what now?" Veramax asked.

"I don't like this, let's get out of here," he said. The four of them made their way to the stage door, but it wouldn't budge. Lady V and Veramax walked over to the side door and tried to open that one. It wouldn't budge either.

"Great," Steljax said sarcastically.

* * *

The nine of them all sat back down, a hologram appeared.

"Hello, welcome," the person said. They were a man, wearing a red jumpsuit, smiling.

"Is that a pre-recorded hologram?" Eliza asked.

"So cool," Rosette said, smiling widely. "Futuristic."

"Welcome to your imprisonment," the man said.

"I recognize that jumpsuit, it's a same one those motorcycle guys were wearing," Rosette said.

Kari stood up and pointed. "Those guys worked for you! You are behind this."

"I tried to get those guys to work for us but they said no," Chris sighed. "Whoever you're getting you information from is barking up the wrong trees."

"We got our information from the agency," Zach said to himself. "They're supposed to know more than anyone."

"We just needed to get you out of the way so we could take over the world," the man said. The hologram disappeared.

* * *

"We need to work together to get out," Rosette said.

"We don't need them," Kari sighed, looking down at her morpher. She tried pushing the buttons, but they didn't work.

"My morpher won't start up," Kari said "My phone isn't either."

"Me too," Zach sighed. The others nodded.

Eliza turned to them. "So, tell us about yourselves."

"Just because we're here together, doesn't mean we have to talk to you," Lady V said, folding her arms.

The rangers looked at each other, then pushed their chairs closer to the evil teams' chairs.

"You can't sit with us," Steljax said.

"You know, I would have thought you guys would have attacked us by now," Zara said.

"We're not doing that anymore," Chris said.

"Yeah," Steljax said. "You've already won."

"What?" Rosette asked.

Veramax spoke up. "After you…the silver one—"

"I'm Kari," she said.

"You," Veramax sighed, "—defeated Steljax, we realized we had to stop. It was too painful. I mean, we sent Gel-Bats out every once in a while but that was more out of spite, and, really, force of habit than thinking we'd accomplish anything."

"None of us won," Zach sighed. "They won."

Zara stood up, and started going around the room. "We're going to find away out," Zara said. She clenched her fists, facing all of them. "They're not winning anything."

* * *

The nine of them surveyed the room, looking for something resembling a way to help.

"Can we at least agree to work together?" Zach asked.

"Fine," Lady V said. "Whatever."

Zara and Rosette checked under the seats.

"Is anyone else hungry?" Veramax asked.

"I have some snacks in my bag," Zach said, walking over to his backpack.

"What've you got, boy?" Kari asked.

He sifted through everything. "There are some gummy worms here," Zach said. "And some leftover pizza. It's just that and some paper and a copy of…Jane Austen's _Emma_."

* * *

"Let's say a runaway train is about to hit five adults passed out on the train tracks. And you have the power to reverse the train and stop it from hitting them, but if you do that, it'll hit a baby," Kari said. "What do you do?"

"Why are you asking this?" Rosette asked.

"Yeah, it's sad to think about," Chris said.

"The last thing I want to do right now is answer philosophical questions," Veramax said.

"It helps keep the brain going, and it's fun," Kari said.

"This isn't fun," Chris said. "_Monopoly_ is fun."

"Monopoly isn't fun, it's just a sad reminder of how screwed up humanity is," Veramax sighed.

"Yeah, I'm never playing Monopoly with you again, Chris," Steljax said.

"Well, when I was growing up, I didn't have fancy games like Monopoly or...sports," Kari said. "We just had our ideals. And our library."

"What?" Lady V asked.

"I read a lot of books, and they always had things like that," Kari said. "My parents were always there for me, but they were busy a lot, and I didn't have siblings or friends, so I just read a lot."

"We're not making ourselves slightly sad just because you had a slightly sad childhood," Chris sighed.

* * *

Zara flipped over one chair, seeing a notebook.

"Did you find anything?" Rosette asked.

"This," Zara said, showing Rosette the notebook. "It's just a bunch of plans. Someone's agenda."

"Someone behind this?" Eliza asked. "An answer!"

"Probably," Zara sighed. "Oh, here it says go to Power Ranger meeting. And it's dated for the day before we got our powers."

"Well that's something," Kari said.

"So they worked for…them," Zach sighed. "I mean, probably."

"They talk about meeting with other people," Zara said. "A lot of secret projects."

"Let me see that," Chris said. He and Veramax walked over to her and took it. They looked over it.

"Oh, they got caught doing some stuff, and they had community service," Chris said. "They had community service in the same place I did, at the same time. This is the same guys."

"You obviously told them too much," Veramax said. "That's why they knew how to contact us."

"And how to make Gel-Bats, right?" Steljax asked.

"What?" Lady V asked.

"Well, there've been quite a few Gel-Bat attacks. Pretty powerful ones too," Stel said. "And I haven't quite been keeping count, but I don't think we've been responsible for all of them."

"Who knows what they'll do next," Zara sighed, leaning against the wall.

* * *

"Wait, so does the agency know they have these guys working for them?" Rosette asked. "I mean, you said they got in trouble."

"Not with the agency, with the police or something," Chris said. "In the agency, they seem to be really public about it. Or at least, with the many agency contacts they have."

"But you've met this guy," Zach said. "What's he like?"

"Annoying," Chris sighed.

"Well he's biased," Lady V said.

"Well, we're all going to be kind of biased," Zach said. "I mean, look at what they've done to us."

"I say there's about a 50/50 chance the door isn't locked from the outside," Kari said. "If we were able to drum up a signal, we could call someone."

"Who should it be?" Zara asked, sitting down on a chair, her legs taking up two more.

"Oh, call Jason Reed," Chris said. "He's a friend of mine."

"Jason Reed," Zach said. "That's Reed's name."

"Do you know him?" Veramax asked.

"He's our mentor," Kari said.

"Maybe he's like one of those under the cover guys," Zara said.

"Which one is the undercover one though?" Eliza asked.

"Maybe we should call Marnie instead, we can trust her," Rosette said.

"No, call Mark," Veramax said. "Marcus."

"Your brother Marcus?" Zara asked.

"Zara had a boyfriend call Marcus," Kari said. "Um..Aaron's son."

"Oh, you're that Zara," Lady V said. "You're much less annoying that Chris describes Aaron describing how Mark used to describe you."

"Saulie said the same thing," Zara said.

"We should call Saulie," Zach said.

"We couldn't ask her do that," Rosette said. "We're already in danger, we don't know what these guys'll do next."

"There aren't many people who we can trust and who can help," Kari said.

"Our parents," Rosette said. "But which I mean your parents."

"London has contacts in high places," Zara said.

"London doesn't know our secret," Kari said.

"Tell her," Zara said. "Better yet, hire her."

"Marnie Atwell," Zach said.

"She works for the agency though, right?" Eliza asked.

"If we can't trust Marnie, we can't trust anyone," Zach said.

"You can't trust anyone," Veramax said.

"I trust Iska," Zara said. "She'd never hurt anyone."

"I trust Vacha," Zach said. "And Hannah."

"Oh, I know," Eliza said. "I trust my dad, and he runs the company that helped design these morphers."

"If he works with the agency, he might work for these guys,' Zara thought aloud.

"He doesn't," Eliza said.

"Who's good with tech?" Rosette asked. "Who can actually get us a signal."

"I am," Kari and Steljax said in unison.

* * *

Kari and Steljax worked on tinkering with their phones until they had enough of a signal, while the other seven went to the other side of the room, playing Who Am I.

"Am I a power ranger?" Zach asked.

"Yes," Kari said.

"Am I in this room?" Zach asked.

"No," Zara said.

"Is my name Zach?" Zach asked.

"No, I said you're not in this room," Zara said.

"There are other power rangers called Zach," Zach said.

"Ask another question," Rosette said.

"Am I a red ranger?" Zach asked.

"Yes," Eliza said.

"Have I been another ranger color?" Zach asked.

"Yes!" Eliza said.

"TJ?"

Kari shooked her head.

"Rocky?"

Kari and Zara shook their heads.

"Troy Burrows!" Zach said.

"Correct!" Eliza said.

"Are all of these going to be ranger related, because I don't know any of the ranger teams," Veramax sighed.

"What other teams even are there?" Chris asked.

"Well, there's like, that greek one, olympian…Olympian force, I think," Lady V said.

"And Mythical Knights," Steljax said. "Or Mythic...Mystic...Mystical, something like that."

"And the one with the animals," Lady V said. "Beast something."

* * *

"Wait, if you gave up, why did you release an interview saying you were still up and running?" Eliza asked.

"We didn't release an interview," Lady V said.

"They must have faked it," Zach said.

"We've got it!" Kari exclaimed. "We have a signal."

Eliza ran over to Kari and Steljax, who high fived. Eliza kissed Kari on the forehead.

"What now?" Chris asked.

"Well, I mean, you could join us, help us," Zach said. "Since you've given up anyways."

"We have a higher calling," Lady V said. "Ourselves."

"I can respect that," Zara said.

"We'll have to turn you into the police though," Rosette said.

"It's been nice getting to know you," Zach said to Chris, Lady V and Veramax.

"I wish we could say the same," Chris sighed, getting up. "I think I ought to stretch my legs."

Lady V and Veramax went to the other side of the room.

"We'll have to turn them in the moment we step outside the door," Kari whispered to Zach.

"Maybe not the moment we step outside the door," Zach said.

The nine of them waited around a few minutes longer, until Eliza's father, Daniel Hamilton, arrived, with his assistants. He opened the door, which was unlocked from the outside.

"Hello," he said.

"Hi," Eliza said, walking up to him, and hugging him.

"Hi Eliza," Daniel said. "I don't know the rest of you, but, I think I know what you're about."

"What now?" Veramax asked Lady V.

"Out the door as quickly as possible," Lady V said. "If you leave anything behind, then it's gone forever."

"I didn't bring anything," Veramax said.

"Good, smart," Lady V said. "Quick getaway."

"Yeah," Veramax said, pointing to his head.

"I chose my mate well," Lady V said.

"Are you ready to go home?" Daniel asked Eliza.

"I think so, yeah," Eliza said. The two of them walked away.

Steljax walked out the door, followed by Chris. Lady V and Veramax exited next, quickly followed by Zach, Kari, Rosette and Zara.

"Are you going to arrest us?" Steljax asked. Chris stood by him. Lady V and Veramax slipped away.

"We're going to give you a head start," Zach said.

"What did he say?" Veramax asked Lady V from the distance.

"I think he said he was giving them a head start," Lady V said.

"That's the worst thing I've ever heard," Veramax said.

"It's valuable though," Lady V said. "We have more time to run away."

Lady V and Veramax continued running. "Are we going to meet back up with Chris and, um, Steljax?" Veramax asked.

"Maybe," Lady V said. "Eventually."

* * *

Zach, Zara, Kari and Rosette walked down the street, holding hands.

"Where are going?" Zara asked.

"How about the shop," Rosette suggested.

"Maybe we should get something to eat first," Kari said.

"Oh, there's a new restaurant I want to try," Zach said.

"Do we want to call Eliza?" Zara asked.

"I think she has plans with her dad," Kari said.

"So where is this place?" Rosette asked.

"A few blocks over," Zach said. The four continued walking.


	30. A Discussion That Needed To Happen

A Discussion That Needed To Happen

"Hi," Eliza said, walking up to Kari, who was sitting on a park bench by a fountain.

"Hi," Kari said, looking up at her for a moment before going back to her book.

"Do you want to go out with me?" Eliza asked. "Maybe this was a bad idea," she sighed, running her hands down her hair.

"I'll think about it," Kari said. "I mean, things have been a bit hectic lately."

"Yeah," Eliza said. "You know what, forget it."

"I like you," Kari said. "I'd be open to the idea, I just don't want to rush into anything."

"Oh, okay," Eliza said.

Eliza started walking away, sitting at a bench nearby, on her phone. Kari looked across, to her, before going back to her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rosette and Saulie were at Saulie's house, watching TV

"I have to go," Rosette said. "I have a meeting."

"Why wasn't that on your schedule?" Saulie asked.

"It's not an official meeting, the five of us have to discuss some stuff we don't want overheard," Rosette said. "Wait, do you know my schedule?"

"I had nothing better to do," Saulie said.

"I guess you could say you had Nothing Much to Do," Rosette joked.

"Oh god, that show," Saulie said. "Why do you keep talking about that show?"

"You should watch it, it's really good," Rosette said. "Watch it right now, then when I'm back we can talk about it."

"Sure," Saulie said.

"I'll come right back," Rosette said. The two kissed and Rosette got up and left.

The five of them convened outside the Fair Dance Diner. Just as they were about to be seated, they got a message about a monster attack.

* * *

The team rushed over to the warehouse, where a group of Gel-Bats were attacking. They pulled out their blasters, firing at them.

As Zara moved through the group of Gel-Bats, she started moving crates out of the way and stacking them.

One of the Gel-Bats pulled out a cannon, and started charging it up.

"That could be trouble," Zach said. As he spoke, a group of Gel-Bats attacked him from behind, taking him down and dragging him away. He tried to shoot, but they knocked his blaster out of his hands. One of them began tying him up.

Kari shot at the Gel-Bats, picking up Zach's blaster and shooting them with it as well.

"Can you untie knots?" he asked her as she walked up to him.

"I don't think so," Kari said.

"I can," Rosette said, walking up to them. She untied Zach.

The three of them got up, and continued shooting at the rest of the Gel-Bats.

The Gel-Bat shot the cannon, demorphing them. They morphed agin, pulling out their daggers and going after the Gel-Bats again.

Rosette wrestled with the gel-Bat holding the cannon, Zara running up to help her. Eliza saw them, turning around. She threw her dagger at the Gel-Bat, cutting one of it's arms off. Zara got the cannon from it's other hand, and handed it to Rosette who shot at the Gel-Bats until only two remained. One of them summoned another cannon. Zara made the stack of crates invisible.

"Get behind here!" she said. The five of them sucked behind the invisible wall, the Gel-Bat thinking the blast would hurt them. The blast destroyed the empty crates, leaving the rangers mostly unscathed. Rosette noticed the cannon she'd acquired was empty and set it on the ground.

The rangers continued shooting at the two Gel-Bats. Thinking they were defeated, they turned around. As it blew up, one Gel-Bat threw a grenade at Kari. Eliza saw it in the corner of her eye. She jumped up to Kari, in the way of the grenade, and just missed it, falling to the floor and de-morphing. The explosion was small, knocking Kari back a few feet and de-morphing her.

Eliza looked up at Kari, and started to burst out laughing, a look of terror on her face. "are you okay?" she asked.

Kari started laughing too. "Yeah," she said. "Why are you laughing."

"I don't know," Eliza said. The two of them slid on the ground over to each other, helping each other off the ground, as they both continued nervously laughing and panting for breath.

The other three rangers demorphed. The five of them walked out of the warehouse.

"Are we cool?" Eliza asked Kari.

"Of course," Kari asked, holding onto Eliza.

* * *

The five of them got an outside table at The Fair Dance Diner.

"Are we ordering food, or are we getting right to business?" Zach asked.

"We can start talking about strategy now," Rosette said. "Although…do you guys want anything?"

"I think we should get fries for the table," Zara said.

"Fries for the table?" Rosette asked. "If we get fries for the table will everyone have some."

"Sure, yeah," Kari said.

"Will you eat fries, if we get fries for the table?" Rosette asked, pointing.

"Yeah," Eliza said. "Sure."

"Yeah," Zach said. "Okay, so I have some ideas on how to handle this."

"What exactly are we handling?" Zara asked.

"What do you think needs handling?" Eliza asked.

"Oh, where to begin," Zara sighed.

"I know where to begin," Zach said. "I think we need to go to Reed directly. No more secrets and lies."

"But what if he lies to us?" Zara asked.

"Oh, that's a good point," Rosette said. "I still think we should go through with it."

"I'm calling Reed right now," Zach said, pulling out his phone.

"Okay," Zara said.

"Hi Reed!" Eliza said.

"Uh..hi guys…I'm, uh, I'm driving right now," Reed said. "I'll, uh, I'll call you back tomorrow."

"Why not later today?" Kari asked.

"I, uh, I need to, I'm driving out of the city and I won't have good connection until tomorrow morning," Reed said. "I'll, uh, I'll video call you tomorrow morning, okay."

"Okay," Rosette said.

"I, uh, I heard, from, uh, Marnie and Ant, and, um, from some other guys that's there's stuff you want to talk to me about," Reed said.

"Yeah," Kari said.

"Tomorrow morning, okay? Around 11," Reed said. "Okay, bye. I love you guys."

"We love you too," Zach said.


	31. But In The End Is Right

**But In The End Is Right**

Nobody knew when The Warehouse At The Edge of the Town had opened, or what exactly went on when people worked there. It had always been abandoned; it was just part of the town, or the edge of it at least. All the rangers knew was that a bunch of their fights were happening their recently.

The rangers were on their way to Reed's shop, when they got the alert there was a group of Gel-Bats terrorizing people in that area. They morphed and arrived at the scene, pulling out their guns.

The rangers started shooting at the Gel-Bats. A monster appeared behind them, large and red, with tusks and claws. It started attacking them; they pulled out their daggers to attack it.

"Activating laser mode," Rosette said, pulling the switch on her dagger; it transformed into a laser, she shot it everywhere, some the blasts hitting bystanders. While she would have preferred to avoid it altogether, it proved one thing at least. The laser, while hard to control, had no effect on people. The other rangers began activating their lasers, but before they could, the monster disappeared.

* * *

The five of them sat a the basement steps. Kari was the last to arrive, having to go back and get her laptop. She locked the door before pulling out her laptop and calling Reed, the other four huddling around her.

"Hi guys," Reed said. He was a bit hard to understand as there was noise in the background, but they could see him clearly.

"Hi," Eliza said.

"Are you a double agent?" Kari asked.

"Yes and no," Reed said. "I was friends with Chris years ago. And then when this started up, I contacted him a few times to get as much information as I could."

"Well he seems to think you're still close," Zach said.

"If you have his contact information, why don't we just go after him?" Eliza asked.

"I only have his and Ant's emails, they keep changing their phone number, and their address," Reed said. "What else do you want to know?"

"Well can you tell us anything about the folks who captured us?" Kari asked.

"No," Reed said.

"Do you think Chris and his team are still an issue?" Zara asked.

"Not at the moment," Reed said.

"When are you coming back?" Rosette asked.

"Midnight today," Reed said.

"Are we going back to our normal training schedule?" Rosette asked.

"No, I'm working on a new one, I'll send it to you tomorrow," Reed said.

"So..we'll see you tomorrow then," Kari said.

"Okay," Reed said. Kari hung up.

"What do you guys want to do now?" Kari asked.

"I have to go," Zach said, standing up.

"I'm kind of busy today," Rosette said, pulling out her phone. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Okay," Eliza said.

"Zara, are you taking the bus?" Zach asked.

"Yeah," she said.

* * *

The two of them started walking to the bus station.

"So have you talked to Vacha recently?" Zara asked.

"Yeah," Zach said, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Do you think you'll get back together?" Zara asked.

"I don't know," Zach said. "I mean, I'm meeting him for lunch but I don't know if it's a date or not."

"Wait, right now?" Zara asked.

"Yeah," Zach said.

"Can I spy on your date?" Zara asked.

"Sure," Zach said. "But remember, it might not actually be a date."

"Can I spy on you if it's not a date?" Zara asked.

"No," Zach said. Zach and Zara got onto the bus.

* * *

"This Jason guy is coming back today?" Malia asked Rosette, as the two made their way out of the bank.

"Yeah," Rosette said.

"Where was he?" Malia asked.

"He was meeting someone he met on a dating website or something," Rosette said.

"He's online dating?" Malia asked.

"Yeah," Rosette sighed. "Wait are you - ?"

"He is very much my type," Malia said.

* * *

"Does Vacha know?" Zara asked.

"That I'm a ranger, or that I want to get back together?" Zach asked.

"That you're a ranger," Zara said.

"No," Zach sighed.

"I almost told Iska, last night," Zara said.

"Do you think you should?" Zach asked.

"Maybe, I mean, I told Mark," she said.

"Did Mark tell anyone?" Zach asked.

"No," Zara said. "At least he has that going for him."

* * *

Rosette and Malia made their way to the park.

"Can you put in a good word for me?" Malia asked, sitting down on a park table.

"He'll probably say no," Rosette said, sitting across from her.

"You could at least ask," Malia said.

"No, yeah, I'll ask, but he'll probably say no," Rosette said.

* * *

"Where do you think I should take him?" Zach asked.

"You could go to The Fair Dance Diner," Zara said.

"Marionis," Zach suggested.

"I feel like Marionis would be better for breakfast, I mean, free breakfast everyday," Zara said. "Except tuesdays, obviously."

"The Fair Dance Diner it is," Zach said.

The two of them looked down at their phones, getting texted about a monster attack. The two had hopped off the bus ran for a block when they got a new text, from Reed.

Take these, it read.

They looked down to see two bright, red motorcycles, like the ones they'd fought a while back.

They sat on them. As Zara sat on hers, it turned gold.

* * *

The two of them rode over to the scene of the battle; The Warehouse At The Edge of The Town. They saw Kari, Rosette and Eliza riding up as well, their motorcycles corresponding with their ranger colors.

The five of them morphed. A group of Gel-Bats had arrived, attacking them. Zach caught a few boxes in a force field and dropped them on the Gel-Bats. As he looked down, he felt a surge of energy hit his back. He turned around to see the monster from earlier.

"I am Mammoth," the monster said.

"Fitting, because you're about to get extinct," Rosette said, turning her dagger on the monster. She ran up in front of Zach, covering him as he nursed his wound, and she shot at the monster, the other rangers doing the same.

"Get the motorcycles!" Rosette said to her teammates, cheerily, as she continued shooting at the monster. The other four went over to the motorcycles, driving them into the monster and through the crowd of Gel-Bats. The five of them continued attacking their their laser daggers, and their guns, until the monster was weakened, and the Gel-Bats were gone.

"You won't get rid of me that easily," the monster said, slowly beginning to grow giant.

Mammoth continued to grow, bursting through the Warehouse roof. But as it stepped away, the rangers noticed the root repairing itself.

The monster, now giant, ran away from the Warehouse and into the city square. The rangers chased after it, summoning the zords.

The Tiger Battlezord and the Spirit Driver Megazord went at Mammoth, tackling it. Eliza activated a throwing attack, and threw Mammoth into the sky.

"Spirit in the Sky," the other four rangers called out, the Spirit Driver Megazord blasting Mammoth, destroying it. The rangers cheered.

"Good job guys!" Rosette said.

* * *

The next day, the rangers made their way to the shop, and walked into Reed's office.

"Eliza, you wanted to be the one to address it," Rosette said, making way for Eliza step in front of her.

Eliza took a deep breath. "Where did you get those motorcycles?" she asked.

"That was one of the things I was doing while I was down there," Reed said.

"After your date?" Rosette asked.

"After my date," Reed said. "I got Marnie to help me fix them up, you can control them now, as you saw yesterday."

"Okay, thank you," Kari said. "That's all we wanted to know."

Rosette turned to Zach. "How'd things with Vacha go?" she asked.

"We rescheduled," Zach said. "I'm meeting him for breakfast. Marionis."

"Well I want to know everything," Rosette said.

Zach, Zara, Eliza and Kari walked out of the office.

"Hey Reed, can I ask you something, in private?" Rosette asked.


	32. Training

**Training**

Eliza made her way down the street while listening to music, running into Steljax. She reached for her morpher.

"I've got a bone to pick with you," Steljax said.

Eliza picked up her morpher to call the others.

"If you try to call your friends, you'll fail," Steljax said. "I created a field that disabled your communication network. And eliminated your cellular signal."

Eliza morphed. "I thought you stopped being evil."

"I have my reasons to fight you," Steljax said, pulling out two guns and shooting Eliza. Eliza pulled out her dagger, stabbing him.

Steljax pulled the dagger out of his body and threw it to the ground. Eliza reached for it. Steljax snapped his fingers three times, summoning a group of Gel-Bats to attack her. There were four of them, carrying buckets. They set the buckets down and summoned blasters, shooting her with them. Eliza shot the Gel-Bats with her blaster, taking two of them out. She shot at the other two; they teleported as soon as the blast hit them.

Eliza threw an explosive at Steljax, who pulled out a device that looked like piece of glass, which turned the explosive around on her. It blew up and she was demorphed. The two Gel-Bats appeared behind her, and held the four buckets over her head; they were filled with water, which they poured on her.

"A shame," Steljax sighed, teleporting away.

* * *

Zach was walking through the park.

"Where are you?" he asked Hannah over the phone.

"I'm literally right in front of you," Hannah said over the phone.

"I can't find you," he said. Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Hannah?" he asked.

He turned around to see Steljax, clad in armor, carrying a gun.

"Everybody, scram!" Steljax said, holding his gun up. The crowd started running away. Steljax stared down into Zach's eyes.

"Not you," Steljax added.

Zach reached for his morpher, sending a message to the other rangers. "I sent out a ray disabling your communications," Steljax said.

"I'll stop you," Zach said; he pulled up his morpher and Steljax knocked it out of his hands.

Zack reached for his morpher and transformed, shooting Steljax with his blaster; Steljax's armor absorbed the attack. Zach continued shooting, running around Stejax.

"That won't stop me," Steljax said. "Try harder."

He shot Zach with the gun.

Zach fell to the ground, demorphing. He turned invisible, trying a sneak attack on Steljax by jumping him from behind. Steljax shook him off, before shooting at him again, the shot hitting just by his head. Zach sighed, morphing again. He jumped at Steljax, blaster in hand. Steljax ripped it from his hands.

"You need a better grip," Steljax sighed, throwing the weapon back to him.

Steljax teleported away.

* * *

Zara held a board in front of Iska's face.

"Hit it," Zara said. Iska punched the board. A Gel-Bat ran up behind her from the other side of the park and grabbed her, pushing Iska down to the ground.

Stejax walked up to Iska on the ground. "Get out," he said calmly. She walked away slowly. Steljax and the Gel-Bat jumped on Zara. She punched them and morphed.

Steljax shot her with his gun. Zara dodged the attack, before pulling out her sword.

"Your form is bad," Steljax said, shooting at her with his laser gun. She hit the laser away with her sword.

Zara reached for her morpher, trying to call her teammates. "I disabled your communications," Steljax said.

Zara sighed, stepping back a few inches, and onto a landline; it went off and she demorphed.

"Maybe you should have paid more attention to your surroundings," Steljax said, walking next to Zara and holding her by her feet. The Gel-Bat held her by her arms, and they began swinging her. She turned invisible and tried to project her force field around her arms and legs, pushing off the two attackers.

She fell to the ground, flipping over and up and morphing, summoning her blaster to shoot at the Gel-Bat. She destroyed it. Steljax shot her from behind and she demorphed again, falling to the ground. She struggled getting up.

"Maybe you should spend less time teaching, and more time learning," Steljax said.

* * *

Rosette was walking home when she saw Steljax behind her, holding a chainsaw. Rosette gasped before reaching for her morpher.

"I disabled your morpher communications," Steljax said. "I also killed your cell signal swell."

Rosette morphed, and knocked the chainsaw from his hands, before kicking him in the torso.

"I thought you learnt you lesson," Rosette said, kicking him. He held onto her foot.

"What have you learnt?" he asked. He pulled out a laser gun and shot her. She hit him with her daggers' laser, but it didn't affect him. She pulled out her blaster and shot him continually, until her blaster ran out of energy.

"Now what?" he asked. She charged up to him, but felt herself getting held back by two Gel-Bats. She bludgeoned them with the blaster, before un-summoning it. The two Gel-Bats went away; she followed them, Steljax pouncing on her. She shook him off, pulling out two daggers. She generated a web attack, covering him with webs, which he shook off. He picked up the webs, and used his gloves to turn them into an energy attack, which he threw at her, demorphing her.

"I'm not down yet," Rosette said, getting up. She tried her morpher, but it was out of energy. "It's never done that before," she sighed.

"I may have used a device to drain the energy in your morpher," Steljax said. "But your attacks didn't help."

Rosette picked up a stick and threw it at Steljax. Steljax shot her, and got knocked back.

"Shock absorbent and bullet proof vest," Rosette said.

"I assumed as much," Steljax said. He shot her again.

She got up, jumping at Steljax and tackling to the ground. She looked at her morpher, now powered up. She morphed, running up to Steljax, hitting a land mine. She flew into the air, demorphing and falling down. She looked down at her morpher, which had been knocked a few feet away. She failed at reaching at it.

"I admire your spirit," Steljax said, teleporting away.

* * *

Kari was on her morning jog, when she saw a figure in the shadows. It was Steljax.

"My friends told me how you attacked them," Kari said.

"That was…informative," Steljax said.

"Are you going after me next?" she asked.

"I already have, remember," he said.

"So?" she asked.

"So, like I told you, I gave up, we all did," Steljax said. "That doesn't mean there aren't still forces after us, or after you guys."

"And you—" Kari said.

"Wanted to see if you were ready to handle them," Steljax sighed. "I don't know what's coming, but I have a better idea than you do. And from the looks of it, you need all the help you can get."

"Will you help us?" Kari asked.

"No, all this aside that's not who I am," Steljax sighed. He started walking away.

Kari pulled out her phone and called her teammates.


	33. A Lesson In Lying

**A Lesson In Lying**

Zach walked over to the dining room table, where Christi, Anna, Tor, Amy and Hannah were already seated.

"Hey Zach, did you meet Margé?" Hannah asked.

"Who?" Zach asked, sitting down.

"The new student at school," Hannah said. "She's really cool."

"No, I don't know her," Zach said.

"She's throwing a party three days from now," Hannah said. "Can I go?"

"Is there going to be alcohol at this party?" Christi asked.

"Maybe," Hannah said.

"Who's going?" Anna asked.

"Can you pass the potatoes?" Amy asked. Christi passed the potatoes to Amy.

"I don't know, everybody's going," Hannah said.

"Are you going, Zach?" Christi asked.

"I don't think I was invited," Zach said.

"You can go if Zach's there with you," Anna said.

"Fine, I'll go," Zach said.

* * *

The next day, Zach started walking to school. He stopped at Zara's house, knocking on her door. She exited moments later.

"Hi," she said. The two of them started walking down the street. Zach bumped into a woman.

"Sorry," she said. She was about thirty, visibly tired, and pushing a stroller with a baby inside.

"Did you just move here?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. She pointed to the house they were in front of. "Yesterday," she said with a sigh.

* * *

Zach walked into his Physics class five minutes early, going to the only available seat. He pulled out his textbook and started reviewing the information

A girl in his class turned to him, holding out her hand.

"Hi, I'm Margé," she said. "I'm new here."

"Hi, I'm Zach," Zach said, his head still buried in his textbook. Margé turned to talk to a group of other students.

Forty-five minutes later, the class ended. Zach followed Margé and her friends out. "Sorry if I came off as rude before," he said to her. "It's just I was really trying to focus."

"It's okay," Margé said, walking away quickly.

Kari walked by Zach. "What's up?"

"Have you ever seen Margé before?" Zach asked. "Like, outside of school. I feel like I recognize her from somewhere."

"I don't know," Kari said. "I'm not good with faces at all, same with voices. And names."

Zach went over to his next class, English, seeing Margé there too, sitting at the front of the class talking to Mona and Saulie. He sat in one of the seats behind her.

Ms. Coata entered the room. "I'm sorry," she said. "Mr. Nelson is currently unavailable, I'll be subbing."

"I'm sorry," Zach whispered to Margé.

"Why?" she asked.

"You'll see," he said.

A few minutes into the class, a young, long haired man knocked on the door, and Coata went over to talk to him.

"Who's that?" Zach asked Mona.

"I think he's the new gym teacher," Mona said. "Gregson or something."

Coata walked up to the class. "Who's Margé?" she asked.

Margé raised her hand slowly. "I am," she said, shakingly.

"Mr. Gregory wishes to speak with you," she said. "Something about your health records not matching up."

Margé exited the room.

* * *

After school that day, Zach made his way home, seeing his new neighbor was unloading a truck full of her belongings.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Sure," she said. The two of them continued unpacking, and then she sat down on her sofa.

"Margé?" he asked.

"Oh, you were at the school," Margé said. "What's your name again?"

"Zach Calvin," he said.

"I'm having a party here day after tomorrow if you want to come," Margé said.

"Okay, sounds fun," Zach said.

He looked over her pictures, hung on the wall. There was a mirror in the middle of the wall, and he saw himself, she was standing behind him.

"Um, uh, why did you transfer here now?" Zach asked. "Especially since you're graduating this year, right?"

"It's complicated," Margé sighed.

"Okay, well, I'd better go," Zach sighed. "See you tomorrow."

He walked away from her, to the door, looking at her calendar. "Why does you calendar have 'the accident,' scheduled for the day after tomorrow?"

"It's complicated," Margé said.

"I have a job, and I need to protect people from threats," Zach said.

"I'm not a threat," Margé said. "What kind of job could you have, you're a kid."

"I'm only a bit younger than you," Zach said. "Unless-"

"Unless what? I'm only pretending to be a high school student?" Margè asked.

"Maybe, are you?" Zach asked.

"If you must know, yes," Margé said, standing up. "I have a job too. A job to inform and protect children like you."

"What?" Zach asked.

"I go to schools, pretending to be a student, make friends with as many people as possible, and then I stage a preventable accident, usually drinking and driving or something like that, to show how horrible it is, and hopefully stop people from actually doing it," Margé said.

"The day after tomorrow?" Zach asked.

"Yes," Margé sighed. "And I feel like this is important, and I'd appreciate if you didn't stop me."

"This seems sick," Zach said. "I feel sick right now."

"I have a job to do," Margé said.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Zach sighed. "And the day after."

* * *

Zach made his way to school, seeing Mona hugging Saulie, the two sitting on the floor in the middle of the hallway. Saulie was crying.

"It's going to be okay," Mona said to her.

He looked around and saw a lot of people upset. "What's going on?" Zach asked Eliza.

"Didn't you hear about Margé?" Eliza asked, tearing up.

"Oh no," Zach said, walking away from Eliza and running outside to clear his head. He saw Vacha sitting by the steps.

"Are you okay?" Zach asked Vacha, sitting next to him.

"Margé got into an accident and she might not be okay," Vacha said, crying.

"I didn't know you were close," Zach said.

"I only met her two days ago, but it was so nice to be around someone who wasn't pretending all the time, someone real. And now she's gone and I just want to cry for days. And I will. I'm going to cry for a longer time than the time I knew her."

Zach kissed Vacha on the head.

"I'll make this better," he said.

Zach made his way to Margé's house. He saw her sitting on a chair, having a glass of beer.

"What's wrong with you? Were you so afraid of me stopping you that you pulled this stunt a day early?"

"I have a job to do," Margé said.

"So do I," Zach said. "I'll get everyone here and show them all the sorry truth."

Zach stormed out.

* * *

Margé, still drunk, made her way to her car, and started driving. She started to lose her girl on the handle, her eyes closing. She tried to stop the car, but felt herself crash into something. She stepped out of the car, slightly injured, seeing she'd ran into a giant, clam themed monster.

"For that, you get special treatment," the monster said. "I'll destroy you first."

Zach, morphed as the red ranger, ran up to them, shooting at the monster.

"Move out of the way," he said to Margé.

"I'll help," the monster said, throwing Margé a few feet away.

Rosette, Zara, Kari and Eliza shot at the monster from behind, destroying it, while Zach tended to Margé.

Zach called an ambulance, and the five of them went to the hospital. Zach called Hannah along, and she waited with them, and when the doctor said Margé was ready to be seen, Zach and Hannah went into the room together.

"Are you okay?' Hannah asked.

"Yes," Margé sighed. "I'm going to tell everyone tomorrow. About all of this. I hope they don't take it too hard."

"That you're alive?" Hannah asked.

"That's great news," Zach said, brushing Margé's shoulder.

"I was a fake person who pretended to go to school and die," Margè said. "Why would anyone care if I came back?"

"You were real to them," Hannah said. "Even when they know you were faking, they're going to be glad you're alive."

* * *

The four other rangers sat in the waiting room, Eliza sitting next to Kari, hugging her.

"I still don't get what's going on," Kari said.

"Margè's only pretending to be a student, she's, like, in her twenties," Zara said.

"Her car crash was fake," Eliza said. "This one was real."

"I think it was pretty horrid to make people get upset like that, but at least her heart was in the right place," Rosette sighed.

"She wouldn't be the first person to lie to us and hurt us for 'our own good'," Zara said.

"It's sad she got hurt for real though," Rosette said.

"Yeah," Kari sighed. "I hope she's okay."

Eliza kissed Kari on the forehead.

Zach and Hannah walked back into the waiting room.

Zara stood up. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine," Zach said. "She's going to clear everything up tomorrow."


	34. State of Decay

**State of Decay**

**Author's Note**: First off, Zach's in character tumblr account is semi-active again.

I hope you like this chapter! And I hope you like the surprises. There are definitely some shake-ups this time around. Since the chapter deals with a lot of characters, and you might not have been keeping track of all of them, here's a list of all the ones who appeared in this chapter!

**Rosette**

Brown Ranger, main character

**Kari**

Silver Ranger, main character

**Zach**

Red Ranger, main character

**Eliza**

Yellow Ranger, main character

**Zara**

Gold Ranger, main character

**Reed**

Mentor to the rangers

**Marnie**

Tech advisor to the rangers

**London**

Friend and classmate to the rangers

**Mona**

Friend and classmate to the rangers

**Saulie**

Friend and classmate to the rangers, knows the secret

**Paul**

Friend and classmate to the rangers, Saulie's brother

**Vacha**

Friend and classmate to the rangers

**Hannah**

Friend and classmate to the rangers, Zach's sister, knows the secret

**Tor**

Zach's sister

**Amy**

Zach's sister

**Christi**

Zach's mother, knows the secret

**Anna**

Zach's mother, knows the secret

**Jenna** (Ms. Coata)

Teacher

**Aysley**

Villain, new character

**Lane** (Mr. Gregory)

Teacher

**Lloyd** (Mr. Nelson)

Teacher

**Daniel**

Eliza's father, knows the secret

**Malia**

Rosette's mother, knows the secret

**Iska**

Friend and classmate to the rangers

**Chris**

Villain

**Steljax**

Villain

**Veramax**

Villain

**Lady Vampir**

Villain

Tell me what you think, and what characters you'd like to see more of.

* * *

Rosette was walking from school, talking with Paul and Saulie.

The three of them kept talking after the game ended and Paul won, the conversation turning to Zara.

"So what was going on?" Saulie asked. "On Zara's side of the coin?"

"Well," Rosetta sighed, resting her head on Saulie's shoulder. "He was dating Ell."

"Oh god," Saulie said. "I remember that, that was…"

"A trainwreck," Paul said.

"A trainwreck, yeah," Saulie said. "I was almost glad that he started cheating on her."

"He was cheating on her?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, with Zara," Saulie said.

"Did you tell anyone?" Paul asked.

"I thought since their relationship was falling apart it would end and put Ell out of her misery," Saulie said.

"Well he did end up putting Ell out of her misery," Paul sighed.

"You say that like she died," Rosette said.

"She basically did," Paul said.

"Stop being so dramatic," Rosette said.

"I don't think he can," Saulie said.

"Zara used to be friends with Ell," Rosette said. "But they hadn't talked in, like, two years. They were too similar or something, and I guess, they both gravitated towards Mark. Zara wanted to hurt one of them, she chose Ell."

"I didn't know that part," Saulie said.

"After that, Ell and Mark broke up," Rosette said.

"If you can call that breaking up," Saulie sighed.

"Yeah," Rosette said. "I wasn't really in the loop so I didn't know, Zara wasn't really my friend yet. As far as I can tell, Zara didn't have any friends, except Ell and Mark. But then two of my best friends moved away during winter break, and Kari came, and I became friends with her and she and Zara were the only students in creative writing class who, were, like, at all invested, so they became friends."

Rosette checked her phone; Zara was asking her to come to the shop.

"And so the three of us, and like, Zach, sometimes started hanging out, so she stopped hanging out with Mark as much, and he didn't like that, so all the behavior he displayed towards Ell became directed towards Zara," she continued to say.

"But why did he hurt Ell in the first place?" Paul asked.

"Just general self destructive behavior," Saulie said. "I know his dad's like that too, so.."

"And I guess since Zara helped him hurt her he thought of Zara as a friend first, so when they started dating he didn't want to hurt her, and think he needed to," Rosette said. "Until she got other friends."

"So all of this was his fault?" Paul asked.

"Well I started being friends with Mark at the same time he started dating Ell," Saulie said. "I knew what he was doing to her, and what he did to Zara, but I didn't say anything."

"Huh," Rosette said.

"And I kind of wish I could go back in time and punch both of us," Saulie said.

"Maybe we could go and visit Ell," Rosette suggested.

"Do you have her new address?" Saulie asked.

"I think Zara does," Rosette said.

"I've got to go," Paul said, looking down at his phone. Rosette and Saulie kept walking.

"I can I talk to you about something?" Rosette asked.

"The guy who was testing you?" Saulie asked.

"How did you know?" Rosette asked.

"I'm a bit psychic," Saulie said. Rosette chuckled. Saulie looked at her.

"Wait, are you joking?" Rosette asked.

"No, I think I actually am psychic. Maybe. I don't know. So, what's the deal with the guy who attacked you?" Saulie asked. "The Steljax guy."

"He was testing us or something," Rosette said.

"I heard you held out the longest," Saulie said.

"Who told you that?" Rosette asked.

"Zach," Saulie said. "Whenever we get together, all he wants talk about is you."

"Huh," Rosette said.

"He really seems to like you," Saulie said. "Did anything ever happen between you two, like - "

"No, nothing major," Rosette said. "We're friends, that's it. Good friends, I think."

Saulie chuckled. "I'm sorry..I was just..I was picturing you two together."

"I think that's too weird for me to imagine," Rosette said.

"I think you'd make a cute couple," Saulie insisted.

"Bye," Rosette said, continuing to the shop, Saulie walking in another direction. London bumped into Rosette along the way.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," Rosette responded.

"Is there are reason you missed the last two swim team practices?" London asked.

"I'm busy," Rosette said. "I…have another swim team. Out of state."

"I'm just worried you're not committed," London said.

"No, I am," Rosette said.

A bug flew past them.

"There are a lot of bugs out today," Rosette sighed.

"Do you know what kind that was?" London asked.

Another bug flew up to Rosette, biting her. She felt weak, falling to the ground.

"Are you okay?" London asked.

"I'll be fine," Rosette sighed.

* * *

Zach, Zara, Kari and Rosette were tending to the shop.

Reed and Marnie walked in.

"A squad of Gel-Bats were attacking earlier," Marnie said.

"Why weren't we alerted?" Zach asked.

"Chris and his crew stopped them," Reed said.

"What?" Kari asked.

"We'll have to see what happen next," Rosette said.

"Time to find out," Kari said, pointing to the TV to see another attack.

They called in Eliza and the five of them fought the onslaught of Gel-Bats. They kept coming, piling on top of the Rangers, and destroying property.

"This is too much," Rosette said

Lady V and Veramax appeared behind them, and triumphant music began playing as the two swept through the crowd of Gel-Bats, decimating it.

Kari, knocked down to the ground, looked up to see Steljax playing the music from his car. He rammed the vehicle through the group of incoming Gel-Bats.

Steljax notice a bomb on the car.

The car flew into the air and the explosion took out the nine of them. Meanwhile, a squad of Gel-Bats took a cannon to the shop, and blew it to pieces. The blast knocked Reed and Marnie unconscious, and the two of them got carried away.

Chris, Veramax, Lady V and Steljax woke up and ran to the lake, activating the portal. A group of civilians followed them, running from the Gel-Bats, and they let them in.

A Gel-Bat shot Chris from behind, Veramax shielding him, Lady Vampir shielding him. Steljax went after the Gel-Bats with his staff.

The Gel-Bats took them out, Chris sealing the portal first.

Zara slowly woke up, Zach Eliza and her separated from the others.

"What's going on?" Zara asked.

"We don't know where we are, you've been out for the better part of an hour, and our powers stopped working," Zach said. "They absorbed them into this container."

"Great," Zara sighed.

"Come with me," a woman said to them. She led them to the lake, where they entered Chris' base. A Gel-Bat followed behind them.

More Gel-Bats rode over to them on motorcycles, trapping them in an electric net.

The Gel-Bat entered the base, starting to shoot at all the civilians. Zach, Eliza and Zara fought it, but Eliza looked up and notice more coming. The three of them attempted to drive the out. One all the Gel-Bats and the three of them were outside the base, Zach activated the lock to keep the base safe. One Gel-Bat produced a net, and caught the three of them in it.

* * *

London looked down at the empty street in front of her. She'd been walking for hours, trying to find someone, anyone. She got a text message, the familiar sound of her phone restoring her faith in humanity. A smile crept on her face.

The text was from Mona. It read: Go to the lake, there's an entryway there.

"Hey you," a man in uniform said.

"There's a base by the lake, we'll be safe there," she said, smiling.

He followed her there.

"Thank you. This will make my job easier," he said, pulling out a gun and pointing it at the entrance. She kicked it out of his hands.

Mona opened the portal to the base. The man leapt at it, but London held him back.

"What are you after?" she asked.

"Your destruction," he said. London tugged at his arm, bruising it and ripping off his sleeve. She jumped in the portal and Mona closed it. Mona looked at the sleeve.

"Weird symbol," Mona said. She led London to the living space, where most people were. Mona and London sat down next to Saulie and Paul.

"There haven't been any reports of deaths, although most people in the city were exposed to attack," Saulie said.

"Is anyone else we know here?" London asked.

"My parents are, they're in the other room," Saulie said. "I saw a few people from school. Eliza was around earlier but she vanished."

"Is Rosette here?" London asked. Saulie didn't move.

"No," Paul said.

* * *

Vacha walked around the base living area, seeing Hannah sitting on the floor.

"Hey!" he said to her. "Hi!"

Hannah stood up and hugged him. "Vacha, right?" she asked.

"Yeah," Vacha said.

"You like him, right?" she said.

"We kinda dated," he said. "It doesn't matter anymore, we're friends."

"Is he here? Have you seen him?" Hannah asked.

"No," he said.

* * *

Vacha kept walking around, before sitting with London, Saulie, Mona, and Paul.

"Hi guys," he said.

"Are you okay?" Saulie asked.

"I don't know, I'm scared," Vacha said. "But I think I'm in luck. I mean, I'm safe. I think I'm gonna talk to Hannah a bit more," he added.

"I'll go with," London said. The two of them got up to talk to Hannah, who was supporting her two younger sisters, Tor and Amy.

"It'll be okay," Hannah said.

Vacha and London sat down next to the three sisters. Anna and Christi walked up to their daughters, Anna holding a plate of food.

"They're rationing what they have in there, this is all we were able to get," Christi sighed.

"I wish the power rangers were here," Tor said.

"I wish Zach was here," Amy said.

"Zach is with you, in your hearts," London said. "And the rangers are with you in spirit. But they're not here, because they're out there fighting the Gel-Bats."

"What do they Gel-Bats even want?" Amy asked.

"Destruction," London said. "Pain. But you're not going to be destroyed, or be in pain. Don't worry."

London went back to sit with her friends. Vacha kept wandering.

"Hey you!" a voice wait. He turned around.

"Ms. Coata?" he asked.

"Call me Jenna," she said. He sat down next to her; she offered him a ip of beer.

"Oh, I don't drink," Vacha sighed. "I mean, I did once, the day Margé faked her incident. Ironic, huh?"

"Sad," Jenna said.

"That I drank then or that I don't drink usually?" Vacha asked.

"Both," she sighed. "You know, I had dreams. I was going to be a real teacher. And now my students hate me, and it's my fault."

"I don't hate you," Vacha said. "Why do you think people hate you?"

"Because I don't care," she sighed. "I try to, but it's hard. It's easier not too."

"I don't know what to tell you," Vacha said.

* * *

London walked in on Mona, Saulie, and Paul laughing.

"What's so funny?" London asked.

"Paul was just showing us his Gandal impression," Mona said.

Iska walked up to the four of them. "They found more food stashed in one of the bedrooms, and so they're handing it out in larger amounts."

"What? No, the way they were rationing it was nice before," Mona said. "Who took charge of this operation anyways?"

"I don't know, probably one of the first ones down here, got everyone else organized," Paul said. "I mean, when Saulie and I got here it was already crowded."

* * *

Two Gel-Bats and one woman patrolled the night lit city on their motorcycles, seeing an injured man on the road, long hair covering his face.

"Take him in," the woman said. She made a call. "This is Aysley. We got one," she said.

The Gel-Bats scanned him, and Aysley looked over the info.

"Lane Gregory," Aysley read. "Teacher."

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm taking you in," Aysley said. Lane got up, and ran. The three patrollers followed after him.

He ran into Lloyd Nelson, a fellow teacher.

"Are you okay," he asked him.

"Come with me," Lloyd said, holding Lane's hand, the two running into the lake entrance.

"What is this place?" Lane asked.

"The only safe place we've got," Lloyd said. "I'm gonna hang around, see if I can find anyone else."

"Is that safe?" Lane asked.

"I've got a bulletproof vest," Lloyd said. "And I need to protect people."

"One thing before you go," Lane said. He walked up to Lloyd, and the two's faces approached each other. They kissed.

"Must run," Lloyd said, running out of the entrance.

* * *

Lane walked up to the line for food, looking over to see the selections. He bumped into London and Mona.

"Sorry," he said.

"It's okay," Mona said.

"You're students at my school, right?" Lane asked.

"Yeah," London said. "I'm Mona, and she's London."

Mona smiled. "She's messing with you, I'm Mona, and she's London."

"We were about to complain about food distribution," London said.

"Who's in charge?" Lane asked.

"I am," Daniel Hamiton said, walking up to the three of them.

"You have to keep rationing the food," Mona said.

"The food we have isn't all we're gonna have, we have people going out to get more," Daniel said.

"Most of the stores have been cleared, homes broken into," London said.

"I don't know what it was like when you got in, but it's bad out there now," Lane said.

"I'll talk to my people," Daniel sighed.

Saulie walked up to them. "You're Eliza's dad, right?" she asked, excited.

"Yeah," he said.

"Can I talk to you in private?" Saulie asked.

* * *

The two walked into Chris's room.

"Do you know where Eliza is? Really?" she asked.

"I think she got taken, by the bad guys, the really bad guys," Daniel said. "I wish there was something I could do but I have to hold the fort here, I can't just leave."

"Is there any info you have?" Saulie asked.

"I saved her from these guys before, but back then they just locked her in a room," Daniel said. "This is worse than anything I've seen before."

"What is this place, do you know?" Saulie asked.

"It used to be the base for the guys who started attacking, the ones who made the Gel-Bats," Daniel said. "They were taken too."

"Wait, do they have tech here?" Saulie asked.

"I haven't gotten a good look, but you can. I have some keys to other rooms, and I didn't want to give them away, at least not until there's a demand for space," Daniel said, pulling the keys out of his pocket. "Here you go."

Saulie opened the door, seeing Paul, Mona and London standing by, ears pressed to the wall.

"What's going on?" London asked.

"Well, Hamilton gave me keys to the rest of this place," Saulie said. "That's all I can say right now."

* * *

A Gel-Bat patrol, monitored Aysley, made their way to their designated rendezvous point. A truck drove up to them, carrying the Zach, Zara, Kari, Rosette, Eliza, Chris, Veramax, Lady Vampir, Steljax, Reed and Marnie, tied up.

"Is that everyone?" Aysley asked.

"Everyone," the truck driver, Fortismas, said. "Everyone that counts."

The eleven of them started struggling and kicking, trying to break free of the ropes. Marnie fell to the ground.

"Those ropes were made to hold you, and they're not giving in any time soon," Fortismas said. Marnie rolled on the ground, her rope rubbing a nail and getting lose.

The truck started moving, and Marnie felt herself rolling away, out of the truck.

"Stop the truck," Aysley said.

"Sorry, no can do, once it starts it can't stop," Fortismas said. "That one wasn't even that important."

Aysley grunted in frustration, before following after Marnie. She was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Meanwhile, Vacha was talking to Hannah, who was sitting on the ground.

"Have you seen any good movies lately?" he asked, pacing up and down.

"Not really," Hannah sighed.

"I saw this cool one about this guy with a double identity," Vacha said, leaning against the wall for a second before going back to pacing. "I can't remember the name."

"Why haven't stayed still for more than a minute the whole time," Hannah said.

"I don't want to," Vacha said. "I have to keep my brain moving, and I can only do that by keeping my body moving."

"You're a lot like him, you know?" Hannah said. "You probably know already."

* * *

Marnie hopped around the area, running into Lloyd. He helped untie her.

"Gel-Bats?" Lloyd asked.

"And the people running this," Marnie said. "I can go after them, I know where they're going, but I need reinforcements," she sighed.

"Come with me," Lloyd said. "Everything's gonna be okay."

* * *

Mona, Saulie, Paul and London explored the base, Paul stumbling upon Steljax's lab.

"This place has a lot of stuff," Paul said. The four of them started surveying it.

"Why did he give you the key?" London asked, wrapping her hands around Saulie.

"He trusts me," Saulie said. "He already has me keeping a secret."

"What secret?" London asked.

"It's not my secret, I don't want to give it away," Saulie said.

"I can respect that," London said, resting her head on Saulie's shoulder.

* * *

Hannah was waiting in the line for the food, when Marnie tapped her shoulder.

"Hi," Hannah said.

"I'm Dr. Atwell, I work with Zach," Marnie said.

"Do you know where he is?" Hannah asked, her eyes filling up.

"On the road, in a truck, with his teammates," Marnie said. "They're being carried by a group working for an evil organization, and I can't take them on my own."

Hannah and Marnie went to Daniel, who was talking with Lane.

"We know where the rangers are, your daughter, my brother, the rest," Hannah said. "But we need to be prepared if we go after them."

"I have a bunch of kids surveying the place, they might have something that can help," Daniel said. He walked over to his phone and called Saulie's cell.

"We have a location," Daniel said. "Have you found anything?"

"A whole bunch of tech, weapons, defensive, the works," Saulie said.

"Meet me in five?" Daniel asked.

"Meet you in five," Saulie said.

"What's going on?" Paul asked.

"It's all gonna work out Paul," Saulie said, crying. She hugged Paul. "We're meeting Daniel in five and we have a location for the rangers."

"Hey guys, look at this," London said, pointing to a box. "I think we have a steal. Our ace in the hole."

"What is it?" Saulie asked.

"A blue morpher," London said. "They're building a morpher in here."

"Let's take that, and whatever else you think is gonna be good," Paul said.

* * *

The ten prisoners were led to a table, and were set into chairs. They all attempted to get loose.

"This isn't working," Veramax said.

"I wonder what happened to Marnie," Zach said. "I hope she's okay."

"She will be, I know it," Kari said.

Eliza jammed her ropes against the table. "I hate this," she sighed.

A group of servers appeared to the rangers, and started feeding them grapes.

"We wouldn't want you to be malnourished," one of them said.

"How do we know this isn't poison?" Zara asked.

"We'll poison you after you tell us everything," Aysley said.

"Hmm," Zach said. "Maybe you shouldn't tell us you'll kill us after we help you, to get us to help you."

The servers left the room for a moment.

"That was kind of rude of me," Zach sighed.

"I don't think you should be preoccupied with manners," Zara said.

"Maybe I should, maybe they're gonna destroy me first now," Zach sighed. "I'm so scared, Zara."

"Try not to think about it," she said.

"I tried thinking about other things," Zach said. "I can't, my mind can't move from this when I'm still so tied up here. I can't think in this box."

"Try not thinking at all," Rosette suggested. "That works for me sometimes."

"I wonder where we are?" Eliza asked.

"We haven't been taken too far," Kari said. "I can tell, I'm a bit psychic."

* * *

Mona held on tightly to the blue morpher, having taken it out of the box. She handed it to Marnie as she approached her.

"Is this what I think it is?" Marnie asked.

"If you think it's a morpher," Saulie said.

"I'll have to clear this to see if it's fit for use," Marnie said.

"I've chosen a team of trained specialists to use the rest of the tech you've gathered," Daniel said.

A group of muscle bound individuals in their thirties and forties looked at the weapons the four had gathered, choosing which ones to use. Marnie wrote down all the info they were given and gave it to their leader, and then they left the base to go after the rangers.

The 7 Specialists marched through the area with their weapons, breaking into the room the rangers were being kept in.

"I am E-Bug!" one of them shouted, shooting the grapes out of the servers' hands.

"I am Q-Bee!" one of them shouted, untying the rangers.

"I am Rope Burn!" one of them shouted, untying the rest of the captives.

The other four pulled out energy weapons and called their names.

"Cassia!" "Hela!" "Lana!" "Malia!"

The weapon-using Specialists and the Prisoners 10 started shooting the servers, and the other people present. A group of Gel-Bats appeared to them and started attacking harder, until the 17 of them were overwhelmed.

"We have to stop them," Rosette said.

"You don't have your powers," Chris said.

"Correct," Kari said, before diving into the crowd and fighting off the Gel-Bats. She picked up a pole from the ground and swung it around at them, like a sword. The other rangers used whatever items were laying or hanging to strike the Gel-Bats.

* * *

Daniel and Marnie sat by a computer, going over their information, and waiting for the Specialists to call back. Mona, Saulie, London and Paul waited by the door of Daniels' office.

"What's gonna happen?" Paul asked.

"It's gonna be okay," Saulie said.

"I know it's gonna be okay," Paul said. "But I want to know what's gonna happen."

"Does the blue morpher work?" Mona asked.

"Maybe, it defiantly has power, but it could be dangerous for the user," Marnie said.

"But it can be activated?" London asked. "How?"

"I guess, but it hasn't been activated, it would need new specifications, a new morph call, everything," Marnie said. "The settings are so out of order, it could literally destroy you."

"So I guess that's a no," Saulie sighed.

* * *

Hannah went over to talk with her Moms.

"A team is coming for Zach," Hannah said. "He's gonna be fine, they all are."

The three of them hugged.

"How are you feeling?" Amy asked.

"I'm okay," Hannah said. "I'm okay."

* * *

Daniel's computer beeped, and there was a message from the Specialists. It read:

We've escaped the compound with the captives, but we're drowning in Gel-Bats.

"They need help," London said, grabbing the morpher and running out of the portal.

"Charging to protect!" she called out the morpher's power enveloping her. She pulled out her weapons, a blue amplifier, and a blue laser blaster. She fired them at the Gel-Bats as soon, as she saw them, and suddenly, the crowd in front of the Gel-Bats became more reasonable to work with.

The 18 fighters worked their way through the army coming over to them, the other evil agents escaping quietly. Kari and Rosette noticed, following after them, but the agents teleported away.

The 18 of them defeated the Gel-Bats.

"Who's the new ranger?" Zara asked.

"I'll explain later," London said.

"Lets take the bus back," Reed said.

"I'd rather not," Kari said.

"Yeah, I'm with Kari," Eliza said.

"My base actually isn't too far from here," Chris said.

"On the subject of transport, I need a new car," Steljax said.

Rosette walked up to Malia. "Thank you. For saving me," she said.

"I just stepped up in the situation," Malia said. "Anyone would have done the same if they were picked."

"Knowing you have my back means a lot to me," Rosette sighed.

"Are you okay?" Malia asked.

"Yeah," Rosette sighed. "I have to be if I want to…be effective."

"It's harder than I thought it would be for you out there," Malia said. "I understand you've adjusted to this emotionally, but I'm not sure I have yet."

* * *

Daniel got a message from the Specialists.

Defeated Gel-Bats. On the way back. Things are clear.

"We can start releasing people," Daniel said. "I'll go tell everyone what's going on." He walked out the door.

Saulie and Paul hugged.

"I'm gonna call Rosette," Saulie said, walking away.

* * *

Christi and Anna were walking Hannah, Tor and Amy down the street. They were released first, and therefore the road was completely theirs. A red figure came up behind them. They turned around to see Zach, still moprhed, holding his helmet in his hands.

"You're the red ranger?" Tor asked. She and Amy walked up to him and hugged him.

"Let's go home," he said, demorphing.

* * *

"Where are you staying?" Rosette asked.

"I haven't found a place yet," Malia said. "I was going to, earlier today, but, you know."

"Stay with me," Rosette said.

"You know, I wouldn't want to run into your father."

"Oh, don't worry about that, he's never around," Rosette said.

"Doesn't that worry you?" Malia asked.

"At least I have you," Rosette said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Aysley was walking to the forest, seeing Eliza's necklace on the ground. She picked it up, and stroked it for a moment. She remembered seeing it on her neck, and thought it must have fallen on the floor. It could be useful, she thought.


	35. We, Arms Outstretched, Resign

**We, Arms Outstretched, Resign**

Vacha knocked on the door. Anna opened it to see him.

"Zach isn't home right now, sweetie," Anna said.

"Is Hannah here?" Vacha asked.

"I think so, I'll check," Anna said.

She shouted her name up to stairs and in moments Hannah arrived.

"Vacha's at the door for you," Anna said.

Hannah walked over to him. "Hi," she said.

* * *

A monster, in full armor, ran down the street, shooting lasers at innocent passersby.

The five rangers rode in on their motorcycles in to fight it, as did the blue ranger, appearing from behind and shooting it. Her gun was more powerful than the other rangers', and as it fired, the blast hit a building.

"Sorry," she said, running to the building to make sure nobody was caught in the blast. The monster went after her, and she fought it off for a second, before feeling herself fall to the ground in pain.

She dialed back the power on her blaster before shooting the monster again, and it ran away. The other rangers ran towards her.

"Gotta go," London said, running away and demorphing by the river.

* * *

Kari and London were in the library, reading over a document for their literature class.

"Are they going to keep misspelling all those words?" Kari asked, looking over how many errors the document had.

"I've decided that it's an aesthetic thing now," London said.

"Is that for you to decide?" Kari asked.

"Obviously," London said.

"Are you okay?" Kari asked. "After everything in the past few days."

"I was safe under the lake," London said. "How about you?" She scanned Kari's face as she responded.

"I was at home," Kari said, checking London's expression. London sighed before continuing to read.

"Come on, we still have ten pages left," London sighed.

After finishing the assignment, they stayed in the library a while longer, working on other assignments, and checking out books. Kari looked at the clock and decided it was a good time to go back to her Aunt and Uncle's house.

"I'm gonna head out?" Kari said.

"Are you gonna take the bus?" London asked, titling her head.

"Nah," Kari sighed. She left, and a few minutes later, London did the same, in the other direction.

London started gathering her things, when she felt a twinge in pain. She looked down at her morpher.

* * *

Kari passed by the flower shop on her walk home. She saw Eliza there, helping clean up and reorganize after the recent attack.

"Hi," Eliza said, waving at her.

"Hi, Eliza," Kari said as she continued reorganizing the windowsill. "Can I help out?"

"Sure," Eliza said.

"This is a nice place," Kari said.

"These flowers are beautiful," Eliza said. "Just like you."

Kari looked at Eliza for a moment.

"I've been thinking that now's a pretty good time to restart TVF," Kari sighed. "With how many people need help now that the city's recked."

"Good idea," Eliza said. Eliza heard an alert from her morpher, as did Kari.

"Let's report to the base," Kari said.

The two of them arrived, around the same time as the other rangers, and the five of them stood at the door of Reed and Marnie's office.

Reed turned to Marnie, who was sitting opposite him. "You had something you wanted to show them, right?"

"Right, yes," Marnie said. She pulled out a document for the blue ranger. "This is all the information we've complied."

"The one who saved us?" Kari asked.

"Yeah," Marnie said.

"Is this a ranger from another team?" Rosette asked.

"No, they're something new," Marnie said.

Kari sat down on Marnie's desk. "But the company does run other teams, right?" Kari asked.

"They started one or two, but they disbanded or something," Marnie said. "This is the only one our company is still running."

"Is that it?" Zara asked.

"Yeah," Marnie said. "I might find more out later though."

* * *

Marnie walked over to London's house, and knocked on the door. London answered.

"Um, you're, uh, London, correct?" Marnie asked.

"Yeah," London sighed. "Come in."

Marnie sat down on a sofa, London sitting on one opposite her. Marnie looked around the house as she sat down. It was massive, she thought.

Marnie sighed. "Well, um, I know….how you're the blue…one…and I was wondering why you haven't told the other rangers."

"Well, I don't know them at all, I don't know if I can trust them," London sighed.

"Trust me, you can," Marnie said. "Have you told anybody else?"

"No," London sighed. "I told Paul and Mona the morpher didn't work for me. I haven't had a chance to talk to Saulie yet, though."

"Well, I want you to be able to trust the other rangers," Marnie said. "Let me show you somehow."

London felt another spark of pain, in her right arm. She sighed holding it with her left hand.

"Tell me who they are?" London asked.

"Um, well...not until you say who you are to them," suggested Marnie.

"Rosette," London said.

"What?" Marnie asked.

"Rosette's one right?" London asked. "Then…Kari." London took a deep breath. "Who else?"

"I can't tell you," Marnie said

"Zach and Zara," London said. "There's one more."

Marnie's eyes widened. "If you guess correctly-"

"You'll tell me, eh?" London asked. "And you'll tell them."

"Who do you think is the last one?" Marnie asked.

London racked her brain. 'Who else hangs with those guys. It couldn't be anyone who was at the lake. Who did that leave. Tron? Mark?'

"Eliza?" she said finally.

Marnie didn't say a word for a moment. After about a minute later, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, and made a call. "Bring them in," she said.

London looked at her for a moment, and started tearing up. Marnie slowly walked over to her, and hugged her.

"They're coming over," Marnie said.

"This power is killing me," London said. "It's too dangerous, you were right."

"Give me the morpher, I can look at it, I can fix it," Marnie said. London handed it to her.

"Thank you," London said.

"No…thank….you," Marnie said. Rosette, Kari, Zach, Zara, and Eliza arrived at London's house a few minutes later, Zara and Rosette sitting on either side of London. The other three sat with Marnie, Kari and Eliza holding hands.

"I, uh, this is a bit much for me," London sighed. She chuckled for a second. "Can I just talk to Zara for a minute?"

"Sure," Zara said.

* * *

London and Zara sat in chairs on the balcony. Zara gave London a glass of water.

"How did this happen?" London asked.

"I don't know," Zara said. "It's all been one big blur. And at the same time…not, you know."

"I think so," London said. She felt a residual jolt of pain, dropping the glass.

"It's just…I didn't even say yes immediately," Zara said, as picked the glass of the floor. She threw it away, and then got London another one.

"I can't believe I'm a ranger though," London said. "Grabbing that blue morpher has got to be one of the most reckless things I've ever done."

"You saved us," Zara said, looking into London's eyes. A smile grew on London's face.

* * *

The next day, Zara and London went to see Marnie at the lab.

"Hi," London said. She and Zara waved.

"Hi," Marnie said timidly. "I, uh, I think I fixed the problem with your morpher. I used the prototype for the original gold morphing device as a base, and the blue device is complete now. It just needed more stability in the fluid crystals in order for the grid link to stabilize enough for power to pass through the flux capacitor."

"So I can save people without it killing me?" London asked.

"Yes," Marnie said, smiling for a second. Zara and London hugged. Marnie passed London the morpher.

"Thank you," London said.

"There might be some linkage issues between the blue and the gold morphers," Marnie said.

"Anything to be worried about?" Zara asked, her eyes widening.

"No, maybe just some psychic feedback between the two," Marnie said.

"Thank you so much," London said.


	36. Reaching Out

Reaching Out

Veramax and Steljax sifted through their belongings, their base in a state of disarray ever since they'd let a good portion of the city crash there. Lady V sat on the sofa, one of the few mostly unchanged features in the living room, watching them while reading the newspaper.

"Apparently the rangers are helping with reconstruction," Lady V sighed. "Sounds like them. Although they're also supposed to make a scheduled public appearance at a fair, and I have a harder time believing that one."

Chris walked up to them. "Marcus's apartment got wrecked and so he's staying with us."

"Marcus your brother?" Lady V asked, turning to Chris.

"Yeah," Chris sighed, sitting down on the sofa.

"Come on man, there's a reason I've been avoiding him since I got here," Veramax sighed, leaning against the wall.

"At least you didn't have to live with him, like I did after you and Mom and Dad got caught," Chris sighed. "So you guys are going to suffer like I did."

"But Chris, you're here, you're suffering too," Steljax said.

"Yeah, but it's like an illness, I've got antibodies now," Chris said.

* * *

Rosette walked over to Zach's house, texting him.

"Coming to door," Zach said Rosette sat on his steps and waited for him. Tornwas walking out of the house.

"Hi," Rosette said. Tor waved.

"How are you doing?" Rosette asked.

"Can you make balloon animals?" Tor asked.

"Sure," Rosette said. Tor handed her her box of balloons. "What do you want it to be?" Rosette asked.

"A cat!" Tor said. Rosette made a ballon animal cat for her.

"There you go," Rosette said. Tor ran inside. Zach walked out of the door a few moments later, followed by Zara.

"You wanted to talk?" Zach asked.

"Yeah," Rosette sighed. "Saulie keeps saying I should work through this with you guys. I mean...things are...kinda wild right now."

"Things have been wild for a while," Zara sighed.

"I guess...I guess it's just good the team is still together," Zach said.

"I wonder what the other ranger teams are like," Zara said. "You know, the ones that actually accomplished things."

"We're going to accomplish things," Rosette sighed.

"I know we will," Zara said. "At least, I hope so. I mean, the house is kind of stacked against us. Or around us, I guess."

"Then we'll take the house from inside," Rosette said.

"How sure are you?" Zach asked.

"Pretty sure," Rosette said. "And like you said, we're not the only team out there. Maybe we could get help."

* * *

Chris, Veramax, Lady V and Steljax finished their lunch at the cafe, Lady V looking out of the window.

"How are we getting back?" she asked. "We are /not/ walking back."

"We walked here," Veramax reminded her.

"It's cold now," Lady V sighed.

"Relax, we're not walking back," Chris said. "Marcus' car is just across the street. We're going to help him carry what he has left into his car, drive home, and then help him unpack."

The three of them sighed.

"Alright," Steljax said, getting up, followed by the two others.

"You could have waited for the check," Chris sighed, remaining in his chair and waiting to pay for the meal.

* * *

Eventually, the five of them were all gathered in the car.

"This is an alright car," Steljax sighed.

"Thank you," Marcus said.

"Must be pretty costly. D'you make a lot of money?" Steljax asked.

"I get by," Marcus said.

"Do people appreciate the car?" Steljax asked. "Is it a good one to get?"

"I do alright," Marcus said.

The five of them went back to the base under the lake.

"I'm telling you, I need a car like Marcus' car," Steljax said.

Marcus turned to Veramax. "Do you want to talk in private, bro?" Marcus asked.

"Not especially," Veramax grunted.

"How long are you going to do be here?" Lady V asked.

"Just a few days hopefully," Marcus said. "Are there any house rules I should know about?"

"You can't eat any of the food in the fridge, but you can take anything you want off the floor," Lady V said.

"Don't joke like that," Chris said, with a chuckle. "Knowing him, he'll probably take you up on it."

"You know what, I'll just steal Marcus' car," Steljax said.

"Definitely," Veramax said.

"Maybe I should have stayed somewhere else," Marcus sighed.

"Definitely," Veramax said.

"I'm gonna get coffee," Lady V said.

"I'll go with you," Veramax said.

Marcus sighed. "This said, Chris, so psyched you let me stay here. You're a good guy."

"I am a good guy, aren't I?" Chris muttered to himself.

Veramax and Lady V walked out, walking from the lake to the street.

"Why do you hate Marcus?" Lady V asked. "Like, was there something he actually did?"

"It was what he didn't do," Veramax said. "He didn't save me. But he could have."

* * *

Aysley approached the lab, seeing the Gel-Bats monitoring the monster design machines.

"I need a new squadron of monsters, powerful ones, stat!" she said.

She looked through her weapons cabinet. 'I need something powerful, but manageable,' she thought to herself.

An hour later, the Gel-Bats had finished creating a line up of monsters to fight back against the rangers. Aysley led them to the city square, and started the attack, chainsaws in hands. The six rangers came in fully morphed, shooting at the Gel-Bats and ushering the other civilians away from the scene of attack.

Aysley's monsters, three armored, slimy beasts, appeared behind the defending heroes, attacking them.

Rosette pulled out her daggers, London following suit. London shot at Aysley with her dagger, seeing it do nothing. Aysley punched London to the ground. Zach ran over to her, checking on her.

"I'm fine, I think," London said, Zach helping her up. The two of them felt a shot from behind, demorphing and falling to the ground. The two of them got up slowly, looking around along with the other four, to see another group of Gel-Bats approached, holding up a cannon in the air.

Zach and London morphed again. The team observed the cannon charging up, Zach turning to Zara and holding her hand. Zach and Zara generated a force field, shielding the rest of the teamfrom the blast. It reflected and hit the Gel-Bats, destroying most of them.

The rangers took care of the rest of the crowd, Aysley slipping away in the panic.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I've thought a lot about these rangers meeting another ranger team, to give them perspective. I don't know if this would be one of my teams, or something else. Review if you have any suggestions.


	37. Good News For People Who Love Bad News

Good News For People Who Love Bad News

London was walking down the street, a ghostly figure approaching her. She turned to face it.

"What is this?" she asked.

"Your test," the figure said, pulling off it's cloak to reveal Steljax. He pulled out his sword, and she morphed, punching him in the gut.

"This is only the beginning," Steljax said. London pulled out her gun, blasting the sword out of his hands. She blasted him in the head next, and he fell to the ground.

"What about now?" she asked.

"That wasn't fair," Steljax sighed, leaning against a wall. "I wasn't ready."

Steljax reached for his sword, getting up to strike her. She dodged it, stepping on a landmine and flying into the air. She landed, demorphing, and kicking him in the face.

"I can go all day," Steljax said, frustrated. He stepped back, activating one of his mines and falling to the ground. "This isn't over!" he said, as ran away.

* * *

"Is that your morpher?" London asked Zach, walking up to him from the shop door.

"Yeah," he sighed.

"I thought it looked different," London said.

"Well this is the regular one," Zach said. "I was using the power up one but I maxed it out."

"Oh," London said. The two of them heard the alarm ring and ran out into battle, morphing. They pulled out their guns, running into a crowd of Gel-Bats.

The other four rangers arrived shortly, the four of them taking out the Gel-Bats. Another, smaller group arrived, tying Zach with ropes. One of them threw their hand over his shoulder, generating an energy wave. He felt his ranger suit falling off, and underneath lay a similar looking, albeit white and slightly more padded, suit. The Gel-Bats escaped, and the Rangers demorphed.

The Rangers made their way back to the shop.

"I don't get what happened to my powers," Zach sighed.

"Well, we'll talk to Reed and Marnie and they'll explain it," Kari said, hand on his shoulder.

"It's probably nothing," Zara sighed.

"It was kinda weird," Eliza said.

Zach went to talk to Marnie about it. She took some scans of his morpher.

"There seems to be something wrong with the Crimson ranger powers," she sighed.

"Yeah, they got absorbed," Zach said.

"It seems the enemy foot soldiers had these absorbing powers for a while but couldn't use them on the advancement powers or on the blue or yellow rangers at all since their morphers are already more advanced," Marnie said. "What did you do to your advanced morpher?"

"I was training with the invisibility power," Zach sighed. "That force field is the most powerful tool in our arsenal, and Zara and I master it - "

"I agree, and I'm glad you're training this heavily, just...be careful, okay," Marnie said.

"I will be," Zach sighed.

Rosette stepped out of the shop to call her mother, then walked back in, seeing Kari, Eliza, and London sitting in chairs talking, Reed a few feet away.

"I was telling London and Eliza about the guy we met, the, uh, the jerk Marnie used to work with," Kari said.

"What was his name, again?" Rosette asked.

"I, uh, I dunno," Kari sighed.

"Well, from the way you described him he sounds like a tool," Eliza said.

"Remember how he talked about getting a huge. boost from the morphing grid by sitting in it," Rosette said. "Maybe we could do something like that."

"Draining extra energy from the grid without proper linkage?" Reed asked. "That woukd be extremely dangerous for the grid, and the person using it."

"You said he said he did it, right?" London asked.

"Then he probably didn't care about the repercussions," Reed sighed. "The grid is based in balance, and powering life, but it can't be fed off if like that, it needs a proper link. Trying to siphon off extra energy could be catastrophic. I mean, the grid can repair itself, but it's hard and takes time."

"Is there any way to give energy back to the grid," Kari asked.

"I guess, but the cost would be life," Reed said.

"You mean a life would have to be sacrificed?" Eliza asked. Reed nodded.

"How easy is it to create a...link?" London asked.

"Not easy," Reed sighed. "It's not as easy as building something to take on the power, there's a...I don't know how to explain it...a spiritual aspect."

* * *

Rosette and Kari went back to Kari's house.

"I feel so weird, I haven't done any writing today," Rosette sighed.

"I thought you said today was your day for working on your songs," Kari said.

"Well, I have these ideas, but it's hard to translate them into words," Rosette said. "I thought since I had so much free time now I'd be able to, but it's worse. All I had were ideas, and now that I have the time to translate my ideas into actual words, I can see that they're not coming out right."

Rosette sat down, and took a deep breath. Suddenly, the alarm rang.

"You saw I was just about to write, right?" Rosette asked, turning to Kari.

The two ran to the scene of attack, seeing Zach already there, morphed and fighting off a monster in his padded, white rangers suit.

"I can take you!" he shouted.

Kari and Rosette pulled out their guns and shot at the monster. Zara, Eliza and London joined them, shooting at it from behind.

A group of Gel-Bats appeared, in armor resembling Zach's ranger suit. The six rangers went after them, Eliza noticing one of them had a glowing sphere. She threw an explosive at it, knocking it out of the Gel-Bat's hand. It opened, and a wave of energy flew to Zach, restoring his powers. The armor on the Gel-Bats disappeared, and the Gel-Bats and the monster teleported away.

The rangers demorphed.

"You don't have to go out like that if you don't have your full powers," Rosette sighed.

"Yeah," Zara said.

"I still had a responsibility as a ranger," Zach sighed. Kari threw her arm over his shoulder.

"The fate of the world doesn't rest on your shoulders," Kari said.

"I know," Zach said. "It lies on all our shoulders. And I need to make sure I'm carrying my weight."

"I think he makes a really good point," London said. "I mean, I would do the same."

"I can respect that," Zara said.

"Just..be careful, everyone," Eliza said.

* * *

The next day, Rosette ran into Kari at the car wash where Kari was working.

"Hi," Kari said. "Give me a second."

Kari finished with the car she was working on and walked over to Rosette. The two sat on a bench.

"Don't tell anyone," Rosette sighed. "But I might be dropping out."

"Of school?" Kari asked.

"It might be easier to just focus on training and preparing?" Rosette sighed. "I mean, this ranger stuff is dangerous."

"What does your Mom think of this?" Kari asked.

"I think she'll understand," Rosette sighed.

"You mean you've already told her you're a ranger?" Kari asked.

"It slipped out once, but she took it well, she understands," Rosette said. "I mean, it's not like my grades are great anyways."

"Just, if you're going through with this, try to understand what you're doing and why," Kari said.


	38. Her Standing There

Her Standing There

"Are you sure you can't stop by Saturday?" Zach asked.

"There's no way," London said. "I'm probably going to be out of town."

"Fine," Zach sighed.

"Can we stop by this grocery store, I want to buy some fruit," London said.

"Sure," Zach said. The two entered, and London got a few apples, going to the machine to pay for them.

"The machine's broken," a worker said. London turned around to see Nathaniel.

"Hi there darling," London said.

"Hi," Nathaniel sighed.

"I didn't know you worked here," Zach said.

"I just got the job," Nathaniel said. "I'm saving for a car."

"Are you working on Saturday?" London asked.

"No," he said.

London smiled at him. "Are you free, all of Saturday?" she asked, leaning on the counter.

"I guess," he said.

"Great!" she said. "Zach needs help setting up furniture."

"I guess I can help," Nathaniel said.

"Great," Zach said. "I'll text you my address."

London paid for her apples, and Zach and London left.

"You'll be back for the party on Sunday, though, right?" Zach asked.

"Sure," London said.

* * *

Kari walked up to Rosette, who was sitting down in the park with her guitar.

"Hi," Kari said, taking off her sunglasses and sitting down next to Rosette. "What're you doing?"

"I'm working on a song for Eliza," Rosette said.

"Oh cool," Kari said.

"Can you help me with the lyrics, you know her better than I do," Rosette said.

"Sure," Kari said.

Zach walked up to the two of them a few minutes later.

"Pretzels?" he asked, offering a bag.

"Sure," Rosette said, taking one. He sat down next to them.

"You won't believe who just tried to hit on me," Zara said, walking up to the three of them.

"Was it Nathaniel?" Zach asked.

"How did you know?" Zara asked. She sat down with them.

"Well he was at my house all of yesterday, and I saw him knock on your door when he was done."

"Oh," Zara said.

"What did you say?" Zach asked.

"I said I wasn't interested," Zara said.

London approached the four of them. " Hi guys," she said, sitting with them. "Hey, Zara, I heard about you and Nathaniel."

"What did you hear?" Zara asked.

"That you two were together," London said.

"That's not true," Zara said. "Who told you that?"

"Iska," London said, as she took a pretzel from Zach.

Rosette looked over at what Kari was writing.

"That looks like a list of facts about Eliza," Rosette said.

"Well, it is," Kari said. "I'm using this information and thinking of what I can do with it."

"Maybe it should be more emotionally based," Rosette said. "Like, how does Eliza make you feel?"

"Eliza's an uplifting presence, when I'm with her I feel better than I am," Kari said.

"That's good, write that down," Rosette said.

Eliza walked up to the five of them.

"Speak of the devil," Zara said.

"How are you?" London asked.

"How am I?" Eliza repeated. She started hyperventilating, before passing out.

* * *

"Where are we?" Eliza asked, slowly waking up, and looking at her surroundings.

"We're in the basement," Rosette said. "You passed out, we brought you back here."

"We're worried," Kari said, sitting next to Eliza.

"I guess you guys have a right to be worried," Eliza said. "I just wanted today to be a nice day...but I can't stop thinking about something that happened to me."

"What was it?" Zara asked, speaking softly.

"Don't feel pressured into saying anything," Kari said.

"Yeah, you, uh, you don't have to say anything if you feel pressured," Zara sighed.

"No, I want to do this," Eliza said. "It's my Mom. She sent me a letter, about how she's getting out of jail."

"Why's she in jail?" Zach asked, crouching down on the floor.

"She abused me, and threatened me," Eliza said. "It's not really a secret, but I've never talked about it with anyone."

"And she wants to see you?" London asked.

"Yeah," Eliza said. "She went on about how she's forgiven me."

"Forgiven you?" Zach asked. "For what?"

"Well, I kinda threw a knife at her head, and injured her," Eliza said. "It was, uh, self defense. I was at a friend's house, he and I and a few others, we had this garage band. They were really cool, but my Mom hated them. She said they were beneath me, and that I needed to stop seeing them. I said no, and she threatened to with me with a pair of scissors."

Eliza paused for a moment, went upstairs, got a glass of water, then came back down to the basement. The other five were still sitting, waiting for her.

"Sorry," Eliza said. "I needed a minute."

"You don't have to apologize for anything," London said.

"Well, uh, where was I?" Eliza asked.

"Your mother threatening you," Zach said.

"Right. Derek arrested her since he was a cop," Eliza said.

"Derek?" London asked.

"Oh, right," Eliza said. "Derek was MD's dad. MD was the lead singer in the band, and my best friend. His parents, Derek and Kathleen, kinda became like my parents. Kathleen, she taught me everything I knew about fighting, and she taught me so much about being a person. If it wasn't for her, I don't know how I would have dealt with all that stuff with my Mom."

"Do you still talk to any of them?" Rosette asked. "Any of your band?"

"No, they all went their separate ways," Eliza said. "I don't keep in touch, not with MD, Derek or Kathleen or Rex or T or Wildman. Those are...those are the other members of the band. They're all older than me, they all went to live their lives and be great, and all that good stuff."

The other rangers stood in silence for a while, then turned to talk amongst themselves.

"Do you know what you're gonna do?" Kari asked.

"No," Eliza said.

Zach tapped Kari on the shoulder.

"I've got to go," Kari said. The five other rangers left, and Eliza sat with her thoughts for a few minutes.

* * *

London approached Eliza, who was washing her hands in the upstairs bathroom.

"How're you feeling now?" London asked.

"Weird," Eliza said.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to say in this kind of situation," London sighed. "I mean, I can't really understand what went down with you and your Mom. I mean, my parents won't even look at me."

"Well, that seems like a problem in it's own right," Eliza said, leaning against a wall.

"Anything else on your mind?" London asked.

"Well, it's my birthday today," Eliza said.

"Oh, uh, happy birthday," London said.

"I wonder why everyone else swanned off," Eliza sighed.

"It's probably because they care...and they think you need your space," London suggested.

"They could have asked," Eliza said.

"Well, do you need space, Z?" London asked.

"A bit," Eliza sighed. "I need to, uh, clear my head."

Eliza started on her walk, wondering aimlessly. She looked at possible directions on her map on her phone.

She continued wondering, finding herself in a field. She looked around, and as she continued walking, she felt something lurking behind her.

She looked around again, seeing an armored, slim, silver monster with the letter Z branded on her head.

"I am Domino," she said, extending claws from her hands. "I will destroy you."

"Not if I can help myself," Eliza said, clenching her fists.

"You can't help anyone, Lady Z," Domino said. Hearing the name used in mockingly was like a stab to the heart. "But especially yourself."

Domino came behind Eliza, stabbing her in the back. Eliza shook her off.

"Charging To Protect The Future!" Eliza chanted, transforming into the Yellow Ranger. She pulled out her blaster, shooting Domino.

Eliza felt the pain from the stab growing, and she started losing consciousness. Domino trapped Eliza in a force field.

"I see the poison is setting in," Domino said. "You won't see anything though. You'll slowly lose your vision for a few moments. No real damage, but it'll take you a few moments to recover, and by then it'll be too late."

"I'll regain my sight, but the last thing you'll see is me destroying you," Eliza said, as she tried to hold herself together. She closed her eyes.

"Us destroying her," London said, morphed as the blue ranger, and shooting Domino.

"Together," Kari morphed as the silver ranger said, shooting at Domino as well.

Zara, Zach and Rosette appeared, morphed, shooting at Domino as well.

"Gel-Bats!" Domino called out. A crowd of Gel-Bats appeared, and the rangers began to fight them. Zara worked on trying to control the force field above Eliza, and London and Kari went after Domino, who tried to escape.

Zara lifted the forcefield, and Eliza joined the rest of the team in the fight, the six of them eliminating the Gel-Bats before turning to Domino, all shooting at her at once, blasters in one hand, laser-daggers in the other.

Domino exploded, and from the explosion fell Eliza's 'z' necklace.

She demorphed, walking up to the necklace, picking it up and putting it on. The other demorphed as well.

"Oh my gosh," Eliza sighed. "I totally forgot, I lost this. They must have based the monster off of it."

"How?" Zach asked.

"I don't know," Eliza said.

Kari hugged Eliza. "Let's go," Kari said.

"Where are we going?" Eliza asked.

"The bowling alley," Zara said. The six of them started walking over.

"Can we just sit for a minute?" Rosette asked. "I mean, we've been through a lot today." They sat down on the grass, looking up at the sky.

"People are starting to roll in," Zach said, looking at his phone, which he held above his head.

"Good," London said.

"What do you mean?" Eliza asked.

"Never mind," Zach said.

They laid on the ground, looking out for a few more minutes, before walking over to the bowling alley, where the party began.

"Oh, I get it," Eliza said. "You were throwing a surprise party for me to entire time."

"It was my idea," Zach said.

Suddenly, four people, three guys and a girl, ran over to Eliza, hugging her. Eliza started smiling uncontrollably.

"MD? Rex? Wildman? Silent T? What are you guys doing here?" she asked.

"I called your dad for their phone numbers," Kari said.

"Happy birthday Eliza," they all said individually.

"We're really glad you guys set this thing up," Wildman said.

"Yeah, we, like, never see each other anymore," Rex said.

"Well that's too bad, we should change that," Eliza said.

"Yeah, definitely," MD said.

Iska walked up to them, holding Eliza's hands. "Happy birthday Eliza!" she said.

"Thanks Iska," Eliza said, hugging her friend.

Eliza turned to the rest of them. "Thanks all of you, for this," she said, hugging all of them.

* * *

One Week Later

Daniel walked up to Eliza, who was walking from the bathroom to her bedroom.

"I was looking over the mail," Daniel sighed. "I got a letter from your mother."

"I don't want to read it," Eliza said.

"And under normal circumstances I wouldn't ask you to," Daniel said. "But it came with a note from her doctors."

"And?" Eliza asked.

"She passed away last night, and this is the last thing she wrote," Daniel said.

Eliza looked at Daniel for a moment. "How am I supposed to feel?" she asked.

"I don't know," Daniel said.

"How do you feel?" Eliza asked.

"I don't know yet," Daniel said, his voice breaking. The two sat down on Daniel's bed.

"Why now, why like this?" Eliza asked.

"I don't know," Daniel sighed. "I don't know."

"Is there anything you can tell me?" Eliza asked.

"Well, I'm not going to ask you to, but I think you should read the letter," Daniel said.

Eliza opened it. She read through the letter, an apology. Eliza guessed that her mother knew what was coming to her.

"She cared," Eliza said. "It was far too little, it was far too late, but she cared." She started crying. Daniel hugged her from the side.

"What now?" Eliza asked.

"We sit with our thoughts, try to make sense of them," Daniel said.

"Thank you, for not being like her," Eliza said. "I, uh, I think I need to be alone for a bit."

Eliza walked back to her room, started listening to music, and laid down on her bed.


	39. Voices in the Dark

**Voices In The Dark**

* * *

6 years ago...

Marnie Atwell approached the bench. It was a nice day for the gathering of inventors, all standing, benches and booths set up across for the field. She set down her device on the table, before turning to her phone, calling her parents. Joseph and Jessa Atwell weren't ones to be late, and they were eighteen minutes so.

A few minutes later, she got phone call from her mother's assistant.

"Marnie, there was an explosion at your parents' office," she said. "They didn't make it."

Marnie abandoned the fair, making her way home, and sitting down on her sofa.

"They can't be gone, they can't be," she sighed. "I'll prove it.

* * *

Present Day

Zara, still waking up, picked her phone off of her bedside table. She put on her glasses, looking at the number. It was one she recognized, but had trouble placing.

"I wanted to talk about our relationship," a voice said.

"New phone, who is this?" Zara asked with a yawn.

"Mark," he sighed.

"Your voice sounds so different," Zara said.

"Strained, I guess," Mark said. "I've been shouting a lot."

"Why?" Zara asked.

"Getting into a lot of fights," Mark said. "I've been pretty out of it since you dumped me."

"I really really hope that's not an invitation to get back together," Zara said.

"Well, how's this. Zara, we love each other," Mark said. "And even though I screwed up, I know we'd still have great times together."

"No, we wouldn't," Zara said.

"I admit I was manipulative. Abusive, even. But that shouldn't get in the way of love," Mark said.

"Well, it does," Zara said. "I can't love someone who treats the people they love like that."

"It's the only way I know how," Mark said.

"I can't be with you," Zara said.

"Is there someone else?" Mark asked.

"It doesn't matter, I'd be done with you either way," Zara sighed. "But yes, I am dating someone new."

"Zara -"

"Goodbye Mark," Zara said, ending the call and collapsing onto her bed.

* * *

Kari made her way to Zach's house and up the stairs to Zach's attack.

"How's it going," Zach, who was sorting through his posters, asked.

"Pretty good," Kari sighed. "I came to pick up a CD, I think I left it here last week."

"It might be in one of the boxes," Zach said, gesturing to the mess in the attic, cardboard boxes everywhere. "I'm finally taking time to clear this all out. If I see anything, I'll tell you."

"Do you have any plans for the summer?" she asked.

"I'm teaching more fighting classes. Reed said he could give me the shop most days," he said. He looked up at her. "I could use help training. Do you want in?"

Kari smiled. "Well," she said with a smile, pacing a bit. "I'll think about it."

"Okay," Zach said.

"I've thought about it, and the answer is yes!" she said.

* * *

"I need weapons," Aysley said, facing the stalls in front of her. "What have you got for me?"

"I can help," a woman in the stall closest to Aysley said. She pulled out a staff. "Th-th-this is the staff my mother used in battle with a-another group of rangers."

"Did she win?" Aysley asked.

"She survived," the woman said.

"A human?" Aysley asked.

"Half-human," the woman said. "She fought off a group of rangers, and also went after their evil counterparts."

"Evil counterparts?" Aysley asked.

"A lot of ranger teams have fought evil versions of themselves. I'm surprised you didn't know about this."

"Maybe I need evil rangers," Aysley said. "Thanks for the idea."

Aysley took the staff, paying the woman.

Aysley walked over to Fortismas, who was sitting on top of a bridge, blasting music.

"What have you been doing to support the cause?" Aysley asked, half-shouting above the noise of the music.

"Well, you know how there's all this construction since the last big attack?" Fortismas asked. "Well, I have my people setting up devices, you know, where they're rebuilding."

"Building bombs into the city," Aysley said. "Right on."

"What about you?" Fortismas asked.

"I have an idea," Aysley said. "We need to make evil rangers."

"I don't know how to accomplish that," Fortismas said.

"Yeah, me neither," Aysley sighed.

"Maybe we should just dress up a bunch of Gel-Bats in suits and say that they're the evil rangers," Fortismas suggested.

"Fine," Aysley sighed.

The six rangers were walking down the street when they were alerted to an attack. They ran over, seeing the attackers looked like them, with near identical suits.

Eliza scanned them. "They're Gel-Bats, or something like that. We just need to take them out."

The six rangers pulled out their guns, shooting their almost doppelgängers out, only to see them replaced by six more. They shot them, but then another six appeared, and another six. Soon, more and more were generated before the previous were even destroyed. The crowd closed in on the rangers.

Aysley and Fortismas looked on at the battle.

"This is working, kind of," she said.

"Wait a minute," Fortismas said, pointing to Steljax, Lady V, Chris and Veramax, who were arriving on the scene. "They could be trouble."

"What are these, more rangers?" Steljax asked, gesturing at the battle.

"I don't think so," Lady V said. The four of them sat down at a table.

"I wanna take this moment to point out how much I resent these guys for stealing my design," Chris sighed.

"You're really upset, huh?" Lady V said.

"And I mean, they're using them for evil," Chris said. "Like, what I did, that wasn't evil. I mean, at least I was trying to make a difference, these guys just want destruction or dominance or whatever. And they're doing it with my design."

"I get what you mean," Lady V sighed. She looked on at the battle ensuing. "And now they've dressed them in the ranger suits. It's like they want to destroy everything good."

"Should we fight?" Steljax asked. "You know, to help them."

"I don't think they need help," Veramax said. The four of them looked again, and the rangers were taking out all of the dressed up Gel-Bats, finishing them off in the next minute.

"Should we send more or something?" Fortismas asked.

"No," Aysley sighed, watching as Chris, Veramax, Lady V and Steljax made their way back to the lake. "Let's follow those guys."

Aysley and Fortismas followed them back to their base. As the lake portal began to close, Fortismas shot at it. It stayed open longer.

"Let's rock and roll," Fortismas said.

"Now we summon the Gel-Bats," Aysley said, as she put her sunglasses back on. An army of Gel-Bats ran into the portal, guns drawn. They started shooting around the base, the four tenants fighting them off. Fortismas shot at the portal to keep it open.

"Let's take the stuff too," Aysley said.

"Good idea," Fortismas said, summoning a second group of Gel-Bats to steal everything from the area.

"Nice!" Aysley said, high-riving Fortismas.

One Gel-Bat shot at the roof of the base, a beam falling from the ceiling and onto Lady V, Chris, Steljax and Veraax, knocking them unconscious.

"Let's take them in," Aysley said, smiling. "This was a good day. This was a productive day."


	40. Proving Yourself

Proving Yourself

* * *

Zara, Zach and Eliza stepped out of the cafe to see a group of Gel-Bat marching down the street, firing at civilians.

"Charging to protect a future!" they called out, turning to ranger form. They charged at the Gel-Bats, taking out most of the initial wave. Another wave came in.

Kari, London and Rosette arrived shortly, morphing as well, and joining their teammates. They all pulled out their guns, shooting at every Gel-Bat they could.

Marnie called them.

"Rangers, there's an attack alert," she said.

"We know, we're taking care of it," Zara said.

"Not the attack you are taking care of," Reed said. "There's a monster attack in the park."

"Zara and Eliza, take care of it," Rosette said.

The two of them did as she wished. Zara and Eliza arrived in the park, seeing a lipstick themed monster. Eliza started shooting at it, Zara waiting for her gun to recharge before doing the same.

"You're not going to get the best of me!" the monster exclaimed.

"We'll see about that," Zara said. "We've taken out a lot of threats, and you're no different."

Eliza pulled out her dagger and shot the monster. The monster shot toxic lipstick at the two of them, knocking them to the ground.

"I think we should stop fighting and . . . make-up!" Zara said as she stabbed the monster.

Reed called them again. "There's another attack, by the school."

"Zach and I will go," Rosette said.

"Why, because we're the ones who do the worst in school?" Zach asked jokingly.

The two of them ran over to the school, where group of advanced Gel-Bats were attacking with cannons, shooting at the people situated at the building early.

Zach projected a force field, protected everyone in sight, as Rosette went after the Gel-Bats, taking them out.

Kari called the rest of the team. "London and I seem to have taken care of the attack here," she said with a sigh. London turned around and shot the remaining one, which came in after her.

"Okay," Rosette said, hanging up. She turned back to Zach.

"Let's go," Rosette sighed.

"Are you sure?" Zach asked. "I mean, when's the next time you're going to get to see the school building?"

"Did Kari tell you?" Rosette asked.

"No, Saulie did," Zach sighed. "It slipped, it was an accident."

"How often do you two talk?" Rosette asked.

"Every once in a while," Zach sighed. "You have no reason to be jealous or anything."

"No, I'm not jealous," Rosette sighed. "I was just wondering if you were friends, and stuff. If you'd still keep in touch."

"Well, yeah, I guess," Zach said. "I mean, we're keeping in touch with you too, right? Like, it's just school you're dropping out of, right?"

"I meant after we finish as rangers," Rosette said.

"What?" Zach asked. "Are you leaving Science Lanes?"

"I probably am. Because even if we finish off here the fight against evil isn't over," Rosette said.

* * *

A few hours later, the rangers made their way to the shop for training, seeing Reed and Marnie standing outside.

"We got raided," Reed said, tearing up. "All the tech, all the files, all the equipment, it's all gone. They took everything except the bricks."

"Did the security cameras capture anything?" London asked.

"They took the security cameras," Marnie sighed. She took a deep breath. "Come inside," she added.

She went to the empty room where her and Reed's office used to be, going under what remained of Reed's desk, seeing they hadn't taken quite everything. She pulled out his eight fold out stools and laid them in the common area.

The eight of them sat down on the stools.

"What are we going to do?" Zara asked.

"We don't know yet," Marnie said. Zach, sitting next to her, placed his hand on her shoulder, to comfort her.

"Let's train," London said. "I mean, there's no attack right now, we have time to prepare."

The eight of them made their way down to the basement.

Rosette felt a pain in her leg. "Ah!" she exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" Zara asked.

"I just need to sit down," Rosette said, smiling. "I must've strained it training before."

Rosette and Zara sat in the back of the basement - it looked different because of the stairs being taken.

The other four rangers trained where the practice mats used to be.

"Do you remember the first day we met?" Zara asked.

"No, uh, I don't really," Rosette sighed.

"It was about six years ago. You were in fifth grade, and I was in fourth," Zara said.

"Oh gosh, yeah," Rosette said, remembering. "You were my only friend for a few months."

"I guess I was," Zara said, smiling faintly as she remembered.

"What happened?" Rosette asked.

"Well, you got other friends," Zara said. "And we drifted apart."

"It's a shame, really," Rosette said.

"Yeah," Zara said, leaning her back against the wall.

Zara sat with Rosette for a while. "I should probably get to training," she said.

"I'm going to go walk off this foot injury," Rosette said.

Rosette exited the store, and turned. She checked her phone, before looking up to see Saulie walking up to her. She ran up to Saulie, hugging her.

"Hi!" Saulie said.

"Hi," Rosette said, moving away from the hug. Saulie smiled at Rosette, and Rosette smiled back.

"Do you want to get something to eat?" Saulie asked.

"Sure," Rosette said. The two of them made their way to a diner.

Kari and Eliza were doing sit-ups, Zara sitting down next to them.

"Can I ask you guys about something?" Kari asked.

"Sure," Eliza said.

"Sure," Zara said.

"Do you think Steljax and the others would have given up if I hadn't beaten Steljax in that duel?" Kari asked.

"I don't know, probably not," Zara said.

"If that's what caused all this, and incidentally gave us an ally in them, that's kind of weird," Kari sighed.

"How come?" Eliza asked.

"Well, this entire time, I've hated myself for getting angry," Kari said. "And yeah, the victim of my anger back in California didn't deserve what she got, but Steljax did, because he was evil at the time, and because I showed restraint, I guess."

"I guess," Zara said.

"Maybe I'm way off base, and maybe I'm being really self-righteous or whatever, but if that helped, even a little, then that's good right?" Kari asked. "I mean, I am totally devoted to helping people, but I doubt I would have tried as hard if I hadn't been angry at Steljax. Hell, I wouldn't have tried to start the Voss Foundation if I wasn't feeling guilty. It's like these negative emotions, like anger and guilt, can actually create beautiful things."

"True," Eliza said.

"I guess what I'm getting at is...if I learnt anything from all of this, it's that," Kari said. "And maybe that sounds really cheesy, but I think there's some truth in it, you know?"

London started pacing, thinking about what just happened, and started breathing heavily and almost having an anxiety attack.

"Are you okay?" Kari asked, walking up to her.

"Yeah," she sighed. "It's just…so flipping scary."

"Yeah," Kari sighed.

"And I feel like I have to do more here, to prove myself," London said. "I feel like I'm the one who hasn't proven myself yet."

"You've proven plenty," Zach said.

"I guess I have," she sighed. "I mean, look at me, London Miller, saver of lives."

"Yeah," Zach said.


	41. We Are Anti-Venom

We Are Anti-Venom

* * *

Reed got an alert about the Gel-Bats attacking. He turned to London, Eliza, Kari, Zara and Zach, who were training in the now empty basement.

"The Gel-Bats are attacking," Reed said.

Zach looked down to the ground and sighed.

"Are you okay?" Reed asked, placing his hand on Zach's shoulder.

"Yeah," Zach said. "Just a bit nervous, I guess."

"That reminds me," Marnie said, handing Zach the Power Up Morpher.

"I was working on this, trying to make it stronger than before," Marnie said. "I was going to work on it later but I don't have the equipment anymore, so I guess that's as good as it gets."

"Is it powerful enough?" Zach asked.

"Let's find out," Marnie said.

"Let's go," Kari said, she and the four others running out.

"Good luck," Marnie said to them. The five ran out to engage the attack.

London walked up to Rosette and Saulie at the cafe. "It's time," she said to them.

"Let's do this," Rosette sighed, running away with London. Saulie looked on as the two of them charged into battle.

A crowd of Gel-Bats marched through the city square, the six rangers morphing and shooting at them.

The rangers noticed as laser blasts came at them, and the other passersby, seemingly out of nowhere.

"There are attacks coming from those buildings," Kari said in observance. A Gel-Bat came from behind Kari, and took her down for a moment. She got up, shooting it down.

Marnie called up the rangers. "Rangers, there's a heat monster attacking by the bay," she said.

"London and I will go," Zara said. London nodded.

The two of them arrived at the river, taking on the heat monster by shooting it several times. The monster shot flames at them, knocking the guns out of their hands.

Zara pulled out her dagger and stabbed the monster; the dagger melted. The monster fired at the civilians running away from him. He chased after them, shaking off the two rangers.

"I think you need to cool down," London said, shooting a laser at the monster. Zara generated a force field between the monster and the people so he couldn't harm them.

Zara closed the force field in on the monster, suffocating him until he exploded.

Rosette, Kari, Zach and Eliza continued shooting at the Gel-Bats, noticing they weren't going after them anymore, instead chasing the other people on the street.

The rangers chased after the Gel-Bats, Zara and London joining them. A truck drove past them, and a Gel-Bat climbed out of the window, shooting at the rangers with a cannon. The got knocked down and demorphed.

Kari went after the truck, the rest of them going after the Gel-Bats.

Kari shot down the truck, and opened the door to see Fortismas. Fortismas pulled out a gun, and shot her, knocking her to the ground.

"Sorry about that," he said, as he closed the door, before driving away. Eliza walked up to Kari.

"Are you okay?" Eliza asked, pulling Kari up.

"Yeah," Kari said. "Let's get through this."

"Right," Eliza said. Kari kissed Eliza on the forehead, and then the two ran into battle.

* * *

Mark was on his afternoon jog, seeing a group of Gel-Bats coming towards him; feeling like he had something to prove, he started fighting them off.

The Gel-Bats started falling down, and Mark realized an invisible person was fighting them off. The person became visible, revealing herself as Zara.

"Zara?" Mark asked.

"Get to safety," Zara said, as she saw more Gel-Bats coming, and shot them.

She ran up to more Gel-Bats incoming, and he decided to chase after her. A group of Gel-Bats grabbed hold of him. Zara fought them off, throwing them into a pile and then shooting at it until the all exploded.

"Get out of here, protect yourself," she said.

"I'm just as strong as you," Mark said. He saw a Gel-Bat coming for Zara, and jumped up, kicking it away. "See?"

A Gel-Bat came at her from behind, knocking the gun out of Zara's hand. Another Gel-Bat picked up Zara's gun, shooting Mark.

"Mark!" Zara exclaimed, as a group of Gel-Bats dragged her away, piling on top of her and overwhelming her.

London ran up to her, shooting at the Gel-Bats. As soon as Zara got free, the two of them walked up to Mark and carried him to the side of the road. The two of them ran back into the battle.

"What's his deal?" London asked.

"I don't even know anymore," Zara sighed.

The rangers all remorphed.

Six Gel-Bats appeared holding bombs, throwing them in different directions as they went off, bystanders getting caught in the blasts. The rangers ran up to victims, checking to see if they were okay, while clearing the wreckage.

A group of ambulances drove to the area of attack. One of the ambulance doors opened, and Reed stepped out.

"Come on here," Reed said, as he began dragging people into his ambulance. The other ambulances opened as well, and the rangers helped get everyone in the area to safety.

A Gel-Bat appeared with a cannon, aiming at the ambulances. Zach and Zara generated a force field, blocking and absorbing the blast.

* * *

Fortismas drove up to Aysley, who was sitting by The Warehouse At The Edge Of The Town.

"Why are we meeting here?" he asked, as he stepped out of the truck.

"This warehouse is enchanted, I swear," Aysley said. "One time, the roof rebuilt itself."

"And?" Fortismas asked.

"My new robot has been absorbing this magic energy," she explained.

"You have a robot?" Fortismas asked.

"Yeah," Aysley said, smiling. "I also sent a group of Gel-Bats with all the weapons we stole."

* * *

A group of Gel-Bats teleported in front of the rangers, donning advanced armor and holding advanced guns.

"That's the armor Marnie was working on," Zach realized.

"I saw those guns at the lake base," London said. The two of them charged at the Gel-Bats, the other rangers joining in. Kari used her sword to fight them off.

Just as they thought they had a handle on those Gel-Bats, more teleported in.

"Lets switch weapons," London suggested. London handed Kari a gun, and Kari handed her a sword. Kari went at the Gel-Bats swinging both sword, and London shot with double the power.

Three Gel-Bats, all carrying an energy-absorbtion device, snuck behind the rangers and aimed at them. Nathaniel, running away from the attack, saw the rangers about to get taken out, and run up to the three Gel-Bats. He jumped in front of the blast, and fell to the ground, significantly weakened.

"Are you okay?" London asked, running up to him.

"Better me than you, eh?" Nathaniel said.

"Thanks," Rosette said. "But there's a reason it's us putting our lives on the line. Because our at least lives have a chance when things get real."

Zach and Zara used their force fields to carry the rubble from the buildings, and dropped it on an incoming crowd of Gel-Bats. Zach went through the weapons the Gel-Bats had acquired, piling them on top of his person. Once the wreckage was cleared, the rangers saw a set of laser generators, built under the buildings that were no longer there.

"That was where those attacks were coming from," Kari said.

"We need to get everyone out the city," Eliza said.

"Right," Nathaniel said. "I guess that's my cue to leave."

"Right," Eliza said.

"Maybe we could carry everyone out with the zords," Rosette said.

Zach called in Marnie and Reed. "There are death weapons built into the city now, we need to get everyone out of here, we were thinking of using the zords."

"That could work," Marnie said.

The rangers summoned their zords - Soaring Eagle, Golden Falcon, Polaris Star, Force Spider, and Tiger Battlezord.

The lasers shot at the zords, having minimal effect. The rangers went with the zords, taking on every civilian they could. A group of Gel-Bats marched up to the zords and the rangers, with the new armor and weapons. Zach turned to London.

"Take my zord," Zach said. "I'll deal with of the Gel-Bats."

Zach turned to the Gel-Bats, and started shooting at them. Suddenly, he noticed them coming from every side of him, with no sign of stopping; it was the most Gel-Bats he'd ever seen, and then at the corner of his eye he saw more coming. He summoned all of his most powerful weapons.

'This strike might be too powerful,' he thought. 'I might not be able to control the blast, I might hurt someone.'

He summoned his force field, casting it as wide as he could. It covered everything in the city, except the Gel-Bats, which were impervious to force fields, and the weapons, which were seemingly made of the made material.

Zach activated all of his weapons and explosives at once, and summoned all of his inner power, before letting loose on the Gel-Bats, destroying all of them in one giant blast.


	42. Like The Legend of The Phoenix

Like The Legend of The Phoenix

Aysley walked up to the cell where Chris, Lady V, Steljax, and Veramax where being kept.

"Aysley, why haven't you killed us yet?" Chris asked.

"My bosses won't let me get rid of you," Aysley said. "We need your technological expertise."

"You'll regret it," Lady V said.

"No, I won't. They will," Aysley said. "They're the ones who care."

Aysley walked away from the two of them and joined Fortismas in the elevator, the two of them went to a higher floor in the base.

"What's the deal with her?" Chris asked.

"I don't know," Veramax asked. "Like, is she the new you, Chris?"

"Well, she has bosses, so I guess not," Lady V said. "Maybe one of them is the new you."

"They stole our identities, technically," Chris noted. "I guess, because if people think we're still in the game, they won't suspect them."

"Well, not anymore I guess," Steljax said.

"What do you mean?" Veramax asked.

"Well, they've got us, and all this other stuff, not to mention the attack a few weeks ago, they're going hardcore," Lady V said.

"Yeah," Steljax said.

Lady V starred at the bars in front of them intently.

"How easy would it be to tear those bars apart?" she asked.

Steljax walked up to them and attempted it, failing. He sat back down.

"Don't you have that vampire strength?" Chris asked.

"We vampires generally don't exert ourselves physically," Lady V sighed.

"So you're avoiding saving our skin…because you don't think it'll be good for your image?" Chris asked.

"I'll do it if there's no better option," she said.

"Fair enough," Chris said.

Steljax, Lady V, and Chris turned to Veramax.

"Fine, I'll give it a try," Veramax grumbled. He pulled at the bars.

"We believe in you," Chris said.

Veramax continued pulling, feeling a slight dent after a while

"I'm getting there," he said.

The four of them cheered as Veramax ripped the bars open. They exited one after another.

Chris looked at a machine in the corner of the room.

"This is the machine they use to make Gel-Bats," he observed. "What if I trashed this."

"Do it!" Lady V said.

Chris picked a wrench from the ground and bashed the machine in. It started sparking, and gel began to leak from it.

The alarm went off.

"We have to go," Steljax sighed.

Lady V, Veramax and Steljax started leaving. Chris ran up to a table, and grabbed a metal tube before following his companions out.

Meanwhile, Aysley was walking into a meeting room, where her bosses were plotting. Fortismas waited outside.

"You can come in, Fortismas," one of the higher-ups said.

"What ever are we going to do?" another person asked.

"I have a magically charged robot," Aysley said. "I could send it out."

"Fine," one of them said. The rest nodded.

Aysley sent out her giant monster, called Gecka, letting it loose on the city. It scanned the area, looking to see if anyone hadn't been saved by the rangers. Zara saw Gecka appear. The rangers dropped off the people they'd saved just outside of the city, watching them as they cleared out of the zords.

"Do you think that's everyone from Science Lanes?" Eliza asked, turning to Kari.

"I don't know," Kari sighed. "How many people live here?"

"Well, if anyone's still in the city we need to save them from that robot," Eliza said.

The five rangers ran over to the scene of attack.

"I am Gecka!" she exclaimed, as she shot at the rangers.

London, Zara, Kari and Rosette combined their zords to form the Spirit Driver Megazord. Eliza boarded the Tiger Battlezord.

"Ready to roll," London said.

"Gecka looks familiar," Eliza said.

"Kind of like a super advanced giant Gel-Bat," Kari noted.

"Then we'll take this robot out just like any other Gel-Bat," London said.

Gecka fought the Battlezord and the Megazord, knocking them both to the ground. The Megazord got up, punching Gecka. Gecka punched the megazord multiple times, and then threw it to the ground again.

Reed called the rangers and Marnie. "Rangers, what's going on?" he asked.

"We have a problem," Zara said.

"A powerful giant robot that won't quit," London sighed.

"We have a zord that may or may not work, but if it does it'll help a lot," Reed said.

"You might have to use it to have a chance against Gecka," Marnie said. "Say "Lane Zord." "

"Lane Zord!" the six rangers called out.

A giant robot car appeared in front of the rangers.

"Call out 'Ultra' and you will be able to combine all the zords to form the Driver Ultrazord," Marnie said.

"Ultra!" the rangers called out. The Tiger Battlezord's top half appeared on top of the Spirit Driver Megazord's top half, and it's lower half came at the Megazord's sides.

The combined zords stood on top of the Lane Zord, and it gave them a surge of power.

"Driver Ultrazord!" the rangers called out.

The Driver Ultrazord charged at Gecka, fighting her and getting a few hits in.

Gecka grabbed hold of the Ultrazord; the shock came into the cockpit, demorphing the rangers. The five of them fell to the ground.

"I'm not dying at the hands of a glorified Gel-Bat," Eliza said.

"It's not going to," Kari said. She crawled over to Eliza, holding her hands. "It's going to be okay."

"Let's fry this robot," London said, trying to get up.

Zach entered the cockpit. "What did I miss?" he asked.

"Zach?" Zara asked. She smiled.

"I used everything I had on that last strike on the Gel-Bats. I think I blacked out for a moment there," Zach said.

"This monster's a toughie," Eliza said.

"Don't hurt yourself," Kari said as she slowly got up.

"I'm fine," Eliza said, as Kari helped her get up

"I don't think you could describe any of us as fine," Kari said. Eliza held onto Kari for a moment.

"What should we do now?" London asked.

"Ultrazord has some fight left in her, we just need to activate an attack," Eliza said as she walked over to the controls.

"Try 'Spirit in the Sky,' " Kari said.

Eliza turned on the 'Spirit in the Sky' attack. With the extra power from the other zords present, it evolved into a new, more powerful attack. It helped in weakening Gecka, but didn't eliminate her.

Reed appeared on the Ultrazord's monitor screen.

"I've received a call about the location of everyone in this agency," Reed said. "Chris and his team were imprisoned by the agency, and they got out, and they now know their location. They sent me the address and I'm sending out the few good agency contacts I have to apprehend them."

"We still need to finish this monster off," London said. Gecka hit the Ultrazord, and the screen went out, along with most of the lights.

"Spirit in the Sky kinda worked," Zara said. "Maybe we could try it again."

"We don't have enough power in the zord itself," Eliza said.

"Reed said there was, like, a way to give the grid power," Kari said. "Give it life."

"Our life?" London asked.

"This is the last attack they're ever going to send out - the last we'll ever face, probably," Kari sighed.

"What are you getting at?" Eliza asked.

"We go down taking Gecka out with us," London said in realization. "It'd be going out with a bang, I'll give you that."

"Any other options?" Rosette asked.

"If we don't try, Gecka will probably destroy us. If we're going down, I'd rather go down taking Gecka out," Kari said.

"I always thought it might end this way," Zara said. "If I have to go down with anyone, I'm glad it's with you guys."

"I feel the same way," Kari said. As she said this, her eyes drifted from Zara and to Eliza, who was standing next to her. She hugged Eliza.

"Then, I guess, let's do this," Eliza said, tearing up. "And let me just say, I'm so glad I met you guys."

The rangers activated the power cells of their morphers, then removed their morphers and attached them to the control panel of the Ultrazord. The morphers continued drawing power from them, and into the Ultrazord.

"Are we sure this'll kill us?" Zara asked.

"I'm not sure how it works," Rosette said.

"All I know is that this is our best bet at saving the world," Kari said.

"Losing ourselves in the process," Zara said in realization.

"Maybe," Eliza said.

"Well, there are six of us now," Zach said. "Maybe that's enough life that...that it won't take all of it. Maybe we'll live, albeit weakened in some way."

"The zords will give everything they've got, right?" London asked. "And the morphers will give them whatever else they need. And our...life force will make sure that the morphers are giving enough. So how much life force they need all depends on how much juice is already in the zords."

"Should be enough," Zach said, his voice cracking. "We don't even get these things out of the house too often."

"So guys, what do we do for our last attack ever?" Zara asked.

"We launch Gecka into space," Kari suggested.

"Good idea," Rosette said, smiling at Kari.

The Ultrazord fired at Gecka, overloading her with power, and the blast knocking her into space, where the atmosphere destroyed her. The Ultrazord fell apart, now powerless.

The rangers were launched away from the shell of the device, and fell into the ocean.


	43. Protecting The Future

Protecting The Future

AKA The Grand Finale

Veramax, Steljax, Lady V and Chris looked around their destroyed base. Lady V walked up to the portal generator, destroyed, a fractured portal permanently situated over the lake, leading to their base.

"There's no way to lock anymore," she sighed.

"We might as well trash this place once and for all," Steljax sighed.

Veramax walked up to Chris, who was standing in a corner, holding up a device.

"What are you holding?" Veramax asked.

"The only thing they stole from us I was able to get back," Chris explained.

"What is it?" Lady V asked.

"This is the device Marcus used to get me out of the other dimension," Chris explained.

"You've had that the whole time?" Veramax asked.

"No, Marcus did," Chris sighed. "He didn't want to go back to find you, or to let me go back. He thought it was too dangerous."

"So what, you stole from him?" Lady V asked.

"Yep," Chris said. "I want to go looking for my parents. It's worth the risk."

"Then I'm going with you," Veramax said, folding his arms.

Steljax and Lady V came closer to the two brothers.

"I want to go too," Steljax said, folding his arms.

"The four of us will," Lady V decided.

"It'll be dangerous," Chris sighed. "But it could be fun too."

"And we'll save them," Veramax said.

"We could save anyone who got lost between dimensions," Chris said.

"Like real heroes," Steljax sighed, leaning against one of the now rough walls.

"Together," Lady V said, smiling.

**Power Rangers Science Lanes**

Six people dressed in ranger-like motorcycle suits rode on motorcycles up to the civilian population gathered outside of the city. They had swords and stunners.

"Are those rangers?" someone asked.

"I saw this last time, those are Gel-Bats," another replied.

"We're _not_ the rangers, and we are **_not_** the Gel-Bats," one of the cyclists said.

"We're here to take you out," another one said.

"The rangers have protected us through so much!" Lloyd said, as he pushed against one of the cyclists. "They're defending us right now. So they can't be here. But we can take care of ourselves."

A fight ensued between the two groups. The cyclists were vastly outnumbered, but more powerful. They called on a group of twelve trained fighters wearing suits with x symbols on them, and fought of the civilians.

"Why aren't they sending those, um, _Gello Warriors_ to fight us?" one person asked.

"Didn't you see, Susan?" another said. "I think that crimson ranger fought off all the Gello Warriors."

"I'm pretty sure he's a _red_ ranger, Helen."

Iska knocked a sword out of one of the cyclists' hands, wielding it against them for a moment. She was knocked to the ground, the sword taken out of her hand.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" Mona asked, finding Iska amidst the crowd.

"I used to take a class," Iska said. "I guess I shouldn't have quit, huh?"

"Do you know how many people made it out?" Mona asked.

"Most of the folks I know," Iska sighed. "I tried calling _Zara_, but it's no use. London too."

The civilians separated into two groups, those willing and able to fight, and the rest, who backed off. The fighting population, about 50, charged against the cyclists and their henchmen.

One of the cyclists activated a teleporter - everyone involved in the fight was transported onto a ship in the ocean.

"You're on our playing field now, separate from your precious rangers," he said.

"We'll fight you here then," Lloyd said, as he led the charge.

The fight ensured until the eighteen aggressors were taken care of.

Nate then took control of the ship, and went to the steering wheel, where he started steering towards land. Mona walked up to Nate.

"What's going to happen?" Mona asked.

"I'm taking everyone home," Nate said. "Can't be that different from a car, right?"

Mona saw a beam of light hit the water, and using a set of binoculars, he saw the six former rangers, barely afloat.

"There's people out there, they need help," Mona said.

The two of them changed the course of the ship, sailing up to the rangers.

Everyone else helped the rangers onto the ship.

Zach looked to the 18 attackers, tied up.

"I guess these guys are the last of the agency's attacks," Zach said.

"I'll report them," Eliza said.

Rosette ran up to the top edge of the ship, screaming, "We're free!"

London sat down next to Rosette.

"So, Rosie, what now?" London asked.

"Well, I was gonna leave, search for evil, take it on by myself," Rosette sighed.

"What changed?" London asked.

"Well, I died today," Rosette said. "So that put things into perspective."

"Yeah, death does that too you, I guess," London sighed.

Rosette sat down next to London.

"So, what's next for you Lols?" Rosette asked.

"Avoiding sources of stress," London sighed.

"Sounds like a good plan," Rosette sighed.

"You?" London asked.

"Well I was going to look for evil on my own," Rosette said. "But I don't have my powers anymore."

"Bummer," London said.

"I'm not sure," Rosette sighed. "I mean, I probably wouldn't want to go yet. Without you guys, I mean."

"Do you think you could wrangle the team together again?" London asked.

"These guys have given so much for the world, I'm not looking to ask for more," Rosette sighed.

"Yourself included?" London asked.

"I guess," Rosette said.

London and Rosette made their way back to Rosette's home, where Malia was waiting, watching the news.

"Mom, this is London," Rosette said.

"Your rich friend?" Malia asked, walking up to the two of them

London laughed. "I guess you could say that."

"I saw the fight on the news," Malia said. "I hope you guys are OK."

"We're okay," Rosette said. "I'm just glad we get to relax now. Enjoy the summer."

"So you're not running out to search for more evil to fight?" Malia asked.

"No," Rosette said.

"So I guess we're both sticking around for once in our sorry lives," Malia said.

"I guess so, Rosette said. She turned to London. "Do you want to watch TV?"

"That's usually pretty low stress," London said. "Sure."

The two of them went up to Rosette's room. It was fairly well organized, and the walls were covered with posters of a plethora of things.

"Saulie keeps texting me, making sure I'm okay," Rosette said.

"You're really lucky," London said. "That you found someone who cares so much."

"I really am," Rosette said. She couldn't stop smiling.

"I wonder how Marnie's doing," London said.

**.**.**.**

Meanwhile, Marnie made her way back to her apartment, turning on the TV. She turned to a random channel, seeing a French-language game show she'd never heard of playing. She kept it on as background noise, using what she remembered of her high school French to follow along.

She turned on her laptop, looking over footage of the Driver Ultrazord. She heard a knock on her door, slamming her laptop as an impulse.

She walked over to the door, and opened it without checking. After everything that had already happened that day, she didn't think there was really anything that could shake her. Looking up, she saw he parents standing in the hallway.

"Hi," she said, hugging them. "Come in," she added.

"It's great to see you," Joseph said.

"They said you were dead," Marnie said to them, almost tearing up.

"The agency faked our deaths and captured us, making us work for them. As soon as we were released, we tracked you down," Jessa said.

"Released?" Marnie asked.

"From the holding cell, where they had us test all of our experiments on each other," Joseph said.

"I thought everyone working for those guys got arrested," Marnie said.

"Only the willing volunteers," Jessa explained. "The prisoners, like us, and everyone was tricked into volunteering, got released."

"Well, this is where I live, welcome," Marnie said.

The three of them sat down in the common area and started catching up and talking, laughing, finally together and finally free.

.**.**.

Zara walked over to the hospital, and saw Mark laying bandaged on his hospital bed.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I will be, if you get back together with me," Mark said.

"Even if I wanted to, I've already moved on," Zara said.

"Yeah, right," Mark said.

"I fell in love," Zara said. Mark scoffed.

Zara pulled out her phone, calling her boyfriend.

"Hi," Zara said.

"Hi," he said back. Mark could hear, as the phone was on speaker.

"How are you today?" Zara asked.

"A little broken up from that attack, but okay," he said.

"Are you going to come and bake with me later?" she asked. "I'm trying out a new recipe."

"Maybe," he said. "I have support group until 7:30, so I'll try to swing by after."

"Okay hon," Zara said. "I have new recipes I want to try out."

The boyfriend came up behind her.

"Hi," he said. Zara and Mark could hear him say it over the phone as well.

"Mark, meet Jarred Michaels," Zara said, smiling. She hung up the phone.

"Zara told me so much about you Marky," Jarred said.

**.**.**.**

Eliza wandered through the rubble of the city. Everything looked so different, partially because it was all in ruins, but she also realized she was looking at it with new eyes. As someone who was just like everybody else.

In front of her, she saw the ghost of her mother, standing over her. She walked through her, and then a few feet away saw Kari. The two ran over to each other, gazing into each others' eyes.

"Can I kiss you?" Eliza asked.

"Yeah," Kari said. The two kissed, for about a minute.

"That was nice," Eliza said, smiling.

"So does this mean we're officially dating?" Kari asked.

"Yeah, if you want it to," Eliza said.

Just then, Zach and Zara ran up to Kari and Eliza.

"Hi guys," Zach said.

"What's new?" Zara asked.

"A lot," Eliza noted.

"I'm excited to teach there," Zach said, gesturing at the shop.

"Me too," Kari said. "This is going to be a good summer."

.**.**.

Special thank you to everyone who read this, especially the people who reviewed. Seriously, thanks!


	44. Reflecting Time

Zara looked down to her possessions on the desk. She grabbed her keys, taking them with her left hand and sliding them into her left pocket. She picked up her wallet next, ruffling through the items in it.

One thing fell out, a small slip of paper. She went to pick it up, and then looked at it. It was a picture of her and her five teammates, in their suits but without their helmets. She smiled as she placed the picture back into her wallet before placing her wallet into her left pocket. Then she changed her mind and put it in the right. She grabbed her phone and placed it in her left pocket with her keys. Then she walked away from her desk to put her broom away.

She heard a noise, a rustling or a breaking, and it sounded like it was coming from another room. She was used to being alone in the theatre, but sometimes, when it sounded like somebody was breaking in, she shrank up, moving slower, clutching onto her broom or whatever item was in her hands.

And there was always something in her hands. She enjoyed staying occupied, staying busy. It got lonely in the theatre by herself. Even when it wasn't closing, and there were still a few people around, she felt very alone.

She'd been working there part time pretty much around the same time she started as a ranger. For the most part, she liked it, or, at the very least, had little to actively dislike. The noise came again, and, deciding it was worth it, she went over to where it was coming from.

* * *

Eliza wandered into a music store. She usually bought music online, but she was walking around one time and saw the store. Bored, she went in. Since then, she visited every so often. The store was mainly one room, with a back room nobody entered through. At the front of the store there was a wooden desk. A store clerk stood behind it. She was about Eliza's age, and her name tag read Stella.

Close to the front, near the desks, were instruments. Eliza eyed an electric guitar; she remembered when she bought her first electric, years earlier. She picked the guitar up, getting her hand caught in the rack for a second, and stumbling back taking it down with her as she tripped to the ground. She picked the rack back up, and then held the guitar in her hands, and played a few chords. Stella looked to her make sure she was okay. She reached her hand out to the price tag.

Even though money wasn't too much of an issue for her, she didn't really want to splurge on an expensive guitar she wouldn't use. Deciding the price was too high, she decided not to buy it, and placed it back on the rack. She blew a kiss to the guitar as she walked away.

The rest of the store was dominated by racks of CD's. She looked through them, thinking of buying something, but not finding anything too appealing. She wandered to the back room of the store. Stella looked at her, pointing to the door with a confused look on her face. Eliza pointed to the door and pleaded for her to let her in with her longing facial expression.

Stella smiled at Eliza, who smiled back before walking into the room and closing the door behind her. Eliza looked around the room, seeing a much broader selection of music. She went though the selection. Some of the albums were by musicians she knew, others she'd never heard of.

The store had a somewhat functional CD player for people to sample music, and the back room had one too. She went through different disks, listening to most of the ones she hadn't heard before, dancing along.

* * *

At first it looked like a raccoon. Then she saw it's extremely long claws, and she observed that half of it's body was obscured by shadow, that it was growing tusks. It's face was too human to be a raccoon. The monster obviously wasn't human, but it's seemingly cheaply made face seemed to be crafted to be facsimile of one. This was a factory made monster, or a wandering demon. Either way, it was a threat to her, and everything and everyone else it came into contact with.

But at first, it looked like a raccoon.

The monster, she called it Tusks, wasn't looking at her. Zara stayed silent, as she backed away. She wasn't sure if she was walking to the exit, or to her desk. Her morpher was in her desk. She hadn't used it since her last battle against Gecka, and there was a good chance it was busted. Still, she thought, she couldn't do nothing and let the monster eventually lay waste to the city.

Zara opened her desk and looked down at her morpher. She picked it up, before walking back to Tusks. Tusks still hadn't noticed her. She was going to morph, she decided. Then she looked down at her morpher again, and realized that saying the chant and producing the rays of light that came off the morpher would alert Tusks to her, for a morph that might not work.

She pulled out her phone, scrolling through her contacts list. However, she looked up, and Tusks was fading away, or some such thing. She went to the camera on her phone and recorded a video of it happening for her to send to the other former rangers. Then she turned around, and exited the theatre.


	45. Just You Wait

This is the last chapter. I hope you guys like it. First off, thank you for all of your comments and responses across the different websites.

I can't believe this is the end. Science Lanes has changed a lot over the past six months. The team grew, the villains changed, and the formula changed a lot.

My writing process for the series evolved as well. I know the characters a lot better than I did 182 days ago, and I hope you do too. After multiple people asked me to make an epilogue chapter, I decided that it should provide more finality than 'Protecting the Future' did, and leave the story lines fulfilled.

This chapter and the last one, the dialogue-free episode, were written to serve as my final word on this story. However, if anyone else wants to take it on, or do anything else with the characters, I wouldn't object to it. I know there was interest by some other people to do something with Science Lanes , but I'm not sure anymore. Still, the option is open.

Now, without further ado, here we go!

* * *

**Just You Wait**

Kari walked across Eliza's floor, seeing papers, CD covers and old clothes scatter across it. She sat next to Eliza on her bed.

"Are these all your journals?" Kari asked, pointing to the nine of them by her desk.

"Yeah," Eliza said

"What do you just write all of the time?" Kari asked.

"No, but the nights add up, you know," Eliza sighed.

"Every night?" Kari asked.

"I guess," Eliza said.

Kari flipped through one of the journals. "Too sad," she said, setting it aside.

Kari picked up one of Eliza's notebooks and opened it, seeing a poem.

"You wrote this?" Kari asked.

"Don't read that," Eliza said, trying to get the notebook away from her. They struggled for a bit, falling off of Eliza's bed. The two chuckled.

"I won't open it," Kari sighed.

"It's fine really, just a bit personal," Eliza sighed.

Kari read it.

"You wanted to make me hate you, but you made me blush.

You wanted to make me paint you, but you were the brush."

"It's about a lot of things that were important to me at the time," Eliza sighed. "I never really finished it."

"It's better than my poetry," Kari said.

"I kind of want to read this terrible Kari Voss poetry now," Eliza said.

Kari got a text message.

"Saulie and Rosette want to know if I'm doing anything later," she said.

"Are you?" Eliza asked.

"Yeah, uh, Reed and I are question Aysley at the prison," Kari said.

"Wow," Eliza said. "Hardcore."

* * *

Zara and London were sitting at a table at the Fair Dance Diner, seeing Iska walking to the exit.

"Iska?" Zara asked.

"Zara? London?" Iska asked.

"When did you get out of the hospital?" London asked.

"Yesterday," Iska said. "I was gonna call."

"I heard about your sword fight," Zara said.

"It was..it was nothing, really," Iska sighed.

"I mean, you tried to help," London said. "That isn't nothing."

Iska smiled as she left.

* * *

Rosette joined London and Zara a few minutes later.

"Kari went with Reed to visit Aysley in prison," Rosette explained.

"Why?" London asked.

"I don't know," Rosette sighed. "To question her, or something."

"Maybe I should tag along, I have some things I want to ask her," London said.

"Like what?" Zara asked.

"I just want to know how it all went down," London explained. "Like, apparently, her sister was almost a ranger.

"On one of those agency teams that didn't make it?" Rosette asked.

"Yeah, and I think it was the one with the guy that you met, Rosie," London said.

"All I know is that guy was a prick," Rosette sighed.

"Can you give me the info about the prison?" London asked.

"I'll send you what Kari texted me," Rosette said.

* * *

Zach drove London to the prison, texting Reed and Kari to tell them they were coming.

"Hey," Kari said. She and Reed were seated in the meeting room, waiting for Aysley, and London joined them.

"Why did Zach text me a picture of Apple Pie?" Reed asked.

"I got that too," Kari said.

"He told me he was going to Marionis," London said.

"Didn't he text us saying he was coming with us?" Kari asked.

"Well, he drove me here," Zach said

Being in maximum security was something Aysley had gotten used to. However, as she paced up and down the cell it felt different. She felt more defeated than usual.

There was a sudden jolt, and the cold metal door came open, a guard stepping out.

"Come with me," he said.

"What's going on?" Aysley asked. The guard said nothing. Aysley felt like the natural reaction would be to rip his throat out, as he wasn't using it anyway, but she decided to follow him instead.

He escorted her to the meeting room. Reed, Kari, and London looked at each other.

"Can I go first?" London asked.

"Okay," Kari said.

"I heard from Marnie that your sister was a ranger," London said. "Did you hate her for that?"

"Hate her? Never," Aysley sighed. "I joined this group to honor her."

"Honor?" Kari asked.

"Well, she joined first," Aysley said. "Most of the 'almost rangers' did. A lot of them got screwed over by higher ranking official though."

"And you joined too?" London asked.

"I was asked to, and I thought it was a worthy venture," Aysley sighed.

"When did you work in Gecka?" London asked. "Marnie told me she started the project."

"She made Gecka, along with the other robots that became your zords," Aysley said. "They were scrapped after the program was scrapped. Gecka was deemed unusable, so I just stole her."

"And you made her usable?" Reed asked.

"I used the enchantments of the Warehouse At The Edge of The Town to fix her up," Aysley sighed.

"Do you know why the Warehouse At The Edge Of The Town is magic, or whatever it is?" London asked.

"I think it's because of all these portals to other dimensions, and all that," Aysley sighed. "There's so much of that kind of stuff in this town, it's ridiculous."

"I noticed my life got weirder after I moved here," Kari sighed. "I thought most of it was just ranger stuff, though."

"Well, the two go hand in hand," Reed said. "Like, have any of you been to Angel Grove?"

"I have," London said quietly.

"Well that city has probably had the most folks attacking it, and it's on me with the monsters rangers who've defended it, and it's also one of the strangest, most screwed up cities I've ever been too," Reed said. "It was nice though, good people."

"And this town is getting there," Aysley said. "And yet all those ordinary people, they just go on with their day, go to their friends or whatever they have, to Marionis and get free breakfast everyday."

"Except Tuesdays, obviously," London and Aysley said in unison.

"It's a weird town, and a dangerous one, and people live in it day to day. Because we have to. Because we're human. That's what Science Lanes is all about, and it's the same with the rest of them."

The questioning ended up going on for about an hour, after which the three questioners exited, and Aysley was escorted back to her cell.

Jarred walked up to Zara, tripping on a pile of books in front of her bedroom door. Hearing him, Zara put down the book she was reading, Blood Red Road, and walked over to him, seeing her books all over the floor, and water over some of them, along with broken glass.

"I'm sorry," Jarred said as he ducked down and quickly cleaned the glass up. "I thought you might have been thirsty."

"I was, thank you," Zara said. She took the glass from him and threw it away, before going to clean up the mess. He silently offered to do it for her.

The two of them started wiping up water and organizing books together.

"You have a lot of books," Jarred noted.

"Well some of them were gifts from Rosette or London," Zara said.

"I'll go get you another glass of water," Jarred said.

"Thank you," Zara said.

Reed, Kari and London exited the prison to see Rosette's car parked up front. Rosette stepped out, Saulie following after her.

"How'd it go?" Saulie asked.

"I guess you could say I learnt a lot," London sighed.

"Cool!" Rosette said. "Do you want me to give you guys a ride?"

"Sure thing," Kari said, walking to the car. She and Reed entered.

"Nah, um, Nate's place isn't too far, I think I'll just walk," London said,

"Nate?" Rosette asked, smiling.

"I kinda have a date," London said, also smiling.

"Well, good luck," Rosette said. "I'll see you later, kay?"

"Kay," London said, walking away from them.

"I've got to go too," Saulie said. She kissed Rosette before walking away.

Rosette drove Reed and Kari back to the Shop. Reed went to what was once his office to finish filing paperwork.

Kari sat on the floor, face in her hands, as she reflected on the events of the final battle. Rosette was sitting next to her, writing lyrics down in her songbook, and checking on Kari every few minutes.

"I should have tried harder to get closer with Eliza while we were rangers," Rosette said.

"What?" Kari asked.

"Nothing," Rosette sighed. Kari went back to her thoughts.

Reed walked into the main room.

"Kari's deep in thought," Rosette said, pointing to her.

"Oh," Reed said, as he stuffed his files into his bag. "How are you guys feeling?"

"It's a weird thing to think about," Rosette sighed. "I guess I'm okay." She smiled.

"I was curious, because Marnie was talking to me about the readings for your attack against the robot," Reed said. "And they were off the charts."

"Well, we drew up a bunch more power from the morphing grid," Kari explained.

"That's dangerous," Reed sighed.

"We didn't really have a choice," Kari said, looking at Reed.

"Don't worry, we gave the power back," Rosette said.

"How?" Reed asked.

"We gave the grid our life force," Kari said. "Well, some of it, anyways."

"To restore the balance because we took so much power," Rosette said, while trying to also explain with hand gestures.

"Where'd you come up with that?" Reed asked.

"You told us it was what we had to do," Rosette said.

As Rosette said that, Reed's eyes widened. He stopped for a second. "I didn't mean that you should actually do it," he finally said.

Kari swore that, in that moment, she saw him tearing up. "It was the only way," she said.

"Yeah," Rosette said, nodding.

Kari stood up. "And we're fine now," she said. "We're fine."

"I never would have been able to do that," Reed sighed.

"I didn't think I would be able to do it either, until I was in the moment," Kari said. "A few months ago, I never dreamed it would end like this."

"It's been a pretty stressful time," Rosette sighed.

"And you guys, you taught me so much about being a ranger, and being a person," Kari said. "I love you for that."

"A lot of it was already inside of you, though," Reed said.

"You should have seen me before I moved to Science Lanes," Kari said as she started to cry. "You could have knocked me out with a feather."

"It's been good," Rosette said.

Kari hugged Reed.

"I'm so proud of you, Kari," Reed said.

"You were the best teacher I ever had," Kari said, before letting go.

Reed started pacing around the main room. "I'm going to miss this place," he sighed.

"You're not going to renew your lease?" Rosette asked.

"Probably not," Reed said. "I mean, I don't need this place anymore. I've got nobody left to teach."

"Oh," Kari sighed.

"I mean, Kari, I know you and Zach wanted to teach classes here over the summer, so if you still want it after that, I can give it to you permanently," Reed said.

"So I can teach classes here, like, for a living?" Kari asked.

"If you can, and if you want to, it could be an option," Reed said.

"Well, thank you," Kari said.

"You're welcome," Reed said.

Reed looked at his watch. "I've got to go," he sighed.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Are you going to donate?" Rosette asked.

"I'm trying to get a bit more money so I can start up TVF again," Kari explained.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Reed said.

"I'll send you the info," Kari said, as Reed left the shop.

* * *

Later on, all six former rangers went down to the shop basement.

"I still can't get over how empty this place is," Zach sighed.

"Hey, they didn't take everything," Rosette noted, picking up the ball. "Timber this?" she asked, throwing it to Kari.

Kari caught it. "Of course they didn't take this, it's pointless," she said. "Although it's different now that we already know each other. There's no pressure to condense or sell ourselves." She passed it to Eliza.

"So what do I do with this?" Eliza asked.

"Say something about yourself," Zara said, as she sat down on the floor.

"Well, I've been thinking a lot about the future lately," Eliza sighed. "Like, where I see myself in five years, all that stuff."

"Where do you see yourself?" Zach asked.

"In college, I guess, probably studying music," Eliza sighed, throwing the ball to Zach.

"I haven't really thought about my future," Zach said.

That was a lie. Zach had been thinking about his future pretty frequently, recently having a conversation about it with his ex-girlfriend Trishia over the phone._ He was sitting at the steps of his house._

_"Have been seeing anyone?" Trishia asked._

_"No," Zach said. "Well, Vacha and I went out for a bit."_

_"What happened?" Trishia asked._

_"We never really connected," Zach sighed. "We were too similar or something."_

_"I wish I had time to go on dates, but I've been too busy," Trishia sighed._

_"I bet it's been an adjustment," Zach said._

_"It'd be better if I had someone I was close with down here," Trishia said longingly._

_"I was thinking about following in your footsteps after I graduate, actually ," Zach said._

_"Really?" Trishia said._

_"Sure," Zach said. "And then we can figure this stuff out together."_

_"Living together'll be a challenge, though," Trishia sighed._

_"Well, we're good friends, I'm sure we'll figure it out," Zach said._

_"I'm running out of battery, I have to go," Trishia said. "I love you."_

_"Love you too," Zach said as he hung up._

Zach wasn't sure how to break the news to the others yet.

"You don't have to say the same thing as Eliza," London said.

"I know I don't have to," Zach sighed. "I'm just a very derivative person."

He threw the ball to Rosette.

"I love you guys," she said. "And this is it. All the loose ends are closed. Things have changed so much for me."

"But change is so good," Saulie said as she made her way down to the basement. "I mean, look at me. Not so long ago, I was friends with Mark, encouraging him to treat Zara horribly. Sorry, by the way."

"No hard feelings," Zara said.

"And here we are now," Saulie said. "We shouldn't be scared of the future."

"Yeah!" Kari said. "That's our space in time..to exist."

"To serve and protect," Zach said.

"To charge," Eliza said.

"You're right," Rosette sighed. "I'm still gonna miss it, what it was like."

"6 months ago I wanted nothing less than I wanted to be a hero," Zara said. "But I was a hero. I did it. We did it. And I wouldn't trade it for the world."

"Me neither," London said.

"We all created this team...this amazing thing in this room, and so many other rooms," Rosette sighed. "All of us." She turned to Kari, staring at her.

"What is it?" Kari asked.

"I forgot your middle name," Rosette said.

"Don't have one!" Kari said.

"Right!" Rosette said. "I remember now."

"I'm moving to Wisconsin in a few months!" Zach said.

"What?" Eliza asked.

"We'll talk about it later," Zach said.

"We have to, yeah," Zara said.

"Let's take a picture together," Eliza said.

Saulie pulled out her phone. "I'll take it. Everyone, get in it."

"After this, we should take another one with you in it, Saulie," Rosette said.

"I love you guys so much," Kari said as she joined them in the picture.

"Everyone, say Charging to Protect a Future," Saulie said.

"Charging to Protect a Future!" the six of them exclaimed.

**Additional Notes**: This chapter was named after a song by William Beckett.


End file.
